Playing with the Boys
by thegoldentouch
Summary: It was often said that Oliver Black should never have been allowed to breed. Now Hogwarts is about to find out why. MWPP.
1. Alley Antics

Playing With the Boys.  
Chapter one: Alley Antics  
By Cathy-Bloom

*****

Not for the first time, Sirius Black was in trouble. A dominant darkhaired woman leaning over him and roaring angrily in a manner that reminded the boy of a thoroughly ticked-off lion. "Please Aunt Penny, I didn't mean to pull that mans toup'ee off..honest". The woman leered shrewdly at him, "Don't expect me to believe anything that comes out of your mouth SIrius Black, butter wouldn't melt in your mouth would it?".

"But really Auntie, it just sort of fell off..", "After you jumped up and ripped it away!" she interejected cooly. "Er...well, I guess I might've helped a little, but I did him a favour really, Auntie...It looked awful..", she snorted loudly, "And you're the next Davy Jones are you?".

He flashed a charming grin and lifted his head slightly, the woman sighed and shook her head defeatedly, "I'll be telling your mother about this.." she muttered, "Oh go on Auntie, you wouldn't would you? It really was an accident..", he pleaded, "Well...only because you might hurt yourself if you keep staring at me with those big puppy dog eyes, not that they work on me mind", "Of course not Auntie" the darkhaired boy said flashing a grin.

"You certainly are your fathers son..got your mothers hair though, good thing too, all this world needs is another blondhaired blue eyed Black..". Sirius Black was a tall boy, still slightly out of proportion as he was growing rapidly, he had his fathers famous 'Baby-blues' and sleek well maintained dark hair that reached to his shoulders. His face angled into a strong chin and he was undoubtedly bestowed with his fathers good looks.

A slightly less enthused quality, (At least by his auntie), also inherited from his father, was his ability to charm and con people with the best of them. Arm this with a constantly-plotting-mischief personality, intelligence with a dash of imagination and you had the ticking time bomb that was Sirius Black.

Aunt Penny was from his mothers side, as shown by her dark hair and big brown eyes, her chin came to a fine point and she had a long thing nose. Also, she withheld the amazing Morag ability to yell and be heard several continents away.

"Oh go on boy, stop grinning like a madman, you're frightening the other children..", Sirius lifted his large blue eyes and a pained expression filtered onto his face, "Oh Aunt Penny! You wound me deeply..", "Your father never should have been allowed to breed", she said sternly in reply.

The hurt expression dissapeared without skipping a beat and the crooked grin returned, another trait he'd aquired from his father, over-dramatic at the best of times. "C'mon Auntie, Mum 'n Dad will think you've kidnapped me to keep for yourself soon..", "We just have to get your wand and robes, then I can take you home Sirius", she replied firmly.

"Aye Aye Captain!", he cried stopping dead standing at attention, raising a hand he saluted her. "At ease Sailor" she muttered dryly and he grinned winking roguishly at her. "C'mon Auntie, you do have to admit, I am awfully smashing..", she raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You got the awful part right.." she replied offhandedly as she pushed open the door to a shop, freshly painted gold lettering reading, 'Ollivanders; Makers of Fine Wands since 382BC.

Bells jingled as the boy followed her inside, he raised an eyebrow as he got an eyeful of the drab decor. "Like...What fabulous decor!" Sirius cried out dramatically flapping his arms around, "Shut up" the woman said firmly and he grinned, "Simply fantastic" he repeated.

She whapped him around the head and hegrinned even wider calling out, "Come and see the violence in herent in the system!", she glared down at him and rose her hand to slap him over the head again, the door opened with the tinkling of bells and a new voice continued, "Help! Help! I'm being opressed!".

"JIM! Jimmy my boy!", Sirius cried out grinning, "Thought it was you Siri, I mean...who else would be making such a prat of themselves in the middle of Ollivanders?". "That was harsh Jim..real harsh", nonetheless the pair were beaming as Sirius grabbed the new boy into a brawling bearhug, as they broke apart the new boy glanced up at the woman, adjusting his glasses which were hanging from his ears, "Hullo Auntie Penny" he said cheerfully.

"Hello James dear" she replied fondly, tousling the boys untameable black hair, it was true that Penelope Morag was of no relation whatsoever to the boy infront of her, however, ever since Sirius was five the pair of boys had pretty much been joined at the hip, so she had come to think of James Potter with his wild dark hair, big brown eyes and charming glasses as a second nephew.

"Mum an' Dad are just outside, just wanted to stop in and say hi and seeyou at the station", the boy grinned excitedly, "First year Siri!" he added, "Hogwarts'll never be the same after it's seen the likes of you two" Penny said with a sigh and the boys blinked innocently up at her, "Whatever do you mean Auntie?" Sirius asked feigning innocence.

"Well Siri, quite simply she means that." Sirius smacked his friend over the head with a snort, "I know what she means you twat" he declared indignantly. "One never knows with you Siri...You're why they put, 'not for human consumption' on tins of Cat food..". "Oh shove off Jim you prat" Sirius snapped raking a hand playfully in the general direction of his friend who agiley stepped out of the way. "Too slow Black, you'll never make the Quidditch team with reflexes like that".

"James...your parents", Aunt Pennys words caused the bespectacled boy to jump. "Oops, forgot about them, can't believe it, first year Siri! Seeyou at the station then", "See you" Sirius replied as his friend dashed out of the store to try and explain to his impatient looking Parents what the hold up had been.

Sirius was startled to find that hovering barely two metres away was a middle-aged wizard, his eyes were unusually large and glowed like pale full moons. "Good day, I've been expecting you Mister Black, hmm I remember when your Mother and Father first came in for their wands..".

"Your Mother favoured oak, twelve and a half inches..one unicorn hair with a sprinkling of ground centaur hoof, unbedable...good for Charms", he smiled upon the memory before continuuing, "Your father however preferred beech, fourteen inches, one dragonheart string and a Phoenix Feather, unusual combination...good powerful wand, nice for Transfiguration".

"And you Miss Morag, fifteen inches..maple, one unicorn tail hair and a sprinkle of fairy dust, nice and whippy, Excellent for Transfiguration", she nodded eagerly, "Still have it" she announced proudly, Sirius stared from one to the other, wondering whether they were quite batty.

"Now Mister Black, Which is your wand arm?", "Left". Holding it out he watched a tapemeasure begin to measure him as Ollivander watched thoughtfully, soon enough he dissapeared and began pulling boxes down from the large shelves, "Try this one, Maple and Unicorn Hair, eleven inches..".

"No this one, Yew and Phoenix Feather...seventeen inches...hmm no not that one! Beech and Dragon heartstring, fifteen inches....Oh no no no! definitely not! Holly and fairy dust...oh certainly not!", finally, having tried at least a doszen wands, he placed a very long whippy sort of wand in his hand.

Warmth spread up Sirius' arm and a shower of sparks erupted, flashing blue to purple to pink before dying out. "Aah Very nice Mister Black, Willow containing the tail hair of a centaur and a dragon heart string, eighteen inches..very powerful, excellent for duelling".

After they had left the shop Sirius allowed his lopsided grin to return, "he was creepy Auntie" he said giving a shudder, she rolled her eyes, "Abit of a workaholic Mister Ollivander, remembers every wand he ever sold".

Sirius pulled a face, "hope i'm never like that" he voiced his thoughts and she sent him a dry smile, "no fear of that Sirius dear", he spluttered indignantly, "What was that supposed to mean?" she rolled her eyes and shoved the bag containing his wand at him. "Come along Sirius dead, we still have to get your robes, I don't know why your Mother and Father left it so late to get your school things, Diagon Alley always gets so crowded around this time", he grinned conspirtively, "It was Dads idea actually, said it would be fun if you took me around".

He watched as Aunt Penny turned pink and a glower appeared in her eyes, it was all much to easy to make the woman mad, It was also very entertaining to watch her yell at his father when he hand't a clue what she was talking about.

"Oh did he now? Fun would it?", he grinned up at her, "Yeah, he said you'd love to take your favourite nephew around shopping", "I'll bet he did" she replied dryly, "Sirius, would you mind running over to Madam Malkins and getting your robes, I have to go to the Leaky Cauldron for a few minutes..and no monkey business, understand?".

He blinked up at her innocently, "me? monkey business? Auntie! you don't believe I would do that?". Sighing she pulled a bag filled with galleons, sickles and knuts from the pocket of her robes and fixed him with a firm frown. "If you cause any trouble Sirius Black your mother will hear about it, you can be sure of that".

He continued to grin widely, "Of course Auntie, i'd never cause any trouble, not me", she pursed her lips and took several sickles from the bag before passing it to him. "Just the robes mind, if I find you buying Dung Bombs i'll tell your mother", "Alright Alright!".

Sticking the sickles in her pcoket she shooed him toward Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions. A large grin spread across his lips as his aunty dissapeared, rubbing his hands together with glee he strolled into the store, a witch he presumed to be Madam Malkin was currently fitting another boy around Sirius' age with black robes.

"Aah, Hogwarts as well dear? Go stand up there while I finish with this young Gentlemen", the 'young gentlemen' in question was a exhausted looking boy, dark circles hung beneath his eyes and he would have been very handsome if he wasn't quite so tired lookin, his light honey-brown hair was flecked with silver, his eyes were a bright amber that seemed to have goldflecks through them.

He was smiling somewhat nervously, he was tall, around James' height, not quite so tall as Sirius but very close. He pulled a face as Madam Malking turned her back. Sirius began to snicker and the boy glanced at him, "Are you a first year too?" Sirius asked and the boy nodded back. "Yea", he gestured toward Madam Malkin muttering so she wouldn't hear him, "Watch her, she has a tendancy to jab pins in unwanted places".

"Sirius Black" he introduced himself leaning precariously over to shake the others hand, "Remus Lupin" was the surprised reply as he shook the hand firmly. Sirius watched with interest as Remus carefully nudged a bag toward his chair with his foot. Leaning down he rummaged in it before withdrawing a wand from it, slipping it up his sleeve.

Sirius barely saw the sparks that shot out of the wand. From the desk Madam Malkin was bending over a tray of pins suddenly jolted into the air, scattering over the floor. Sirius raised an eyebrow before allowing a crooked smile to cross his face, Remus had slipped the wand further up his sleeve and wore a puzzled expression.

Madam Malkin frowned before letting out a few choice words, she turned back to them, "Who.." she began before shaking her head and pulling a wand from her pocket, Sirius grinned as Remus winked at him discretely from his look of pleasant surprise. As she waved a wand over the scattered pins they began to pile back onto the tray. Another jet of sparks left the other boys wand and a roll of ribbon suddenly went haywire, the ribbon billowed out, crisscrossing over the roof like streamers, once more Remus wore a puzzled look.

Sirius grinned as he plucked his own wand from it's bag, winking at the other boy as Madam Malkin vented a cry of frustration, slipping the wand up his sleeve he muttered and a jar full of odd buttons exploded, the buttons pinging out all over the shop.

Remus, not one to be outdone, sent a pile of patterns fluttering through the air like confetti, Sirius grinned and sent several rolls of cotton twining around the shop. The pair paused in their trouble making as Madam Malkin snapped, turning livid eyes on the pair of them.

They didn't even dart to breathe as she set the mess to cleaning itself up, eyeing the pair suspiciously she pulled a mass of black material over Sirius' head and began to pin it into place, he yelped as one pin dug viciously into his leg. "Sorry dear" she snapped and he glanced at Remus who grinned jovially and mouthed, "I told you so".

He took care to keep his wand hidden well up his sleeve as the witch fitted his robes, satisfied she whipped them over his head before striding over to take Remus'.

The brownhaired boy glanced across at Sirius allowing a tiny smile to replace his earlier nervous one. "What house do you think you'll be in?" Sirius spoke up and the other boy shrugged, "I don't know...Mother says i'll probably be a Ravenclaw but father.." he paused slightly, "thinks i'll be put in Slytherin" he had a look on his face that suggested he didn't like either option.

"Well my Auntie says i'll probably be in Gryffindor, Mum 'n Dad think so too. I don't think you'd be in Slytherin though, they're all evil gits from what i've hear..and Ravenclaws are all swatty tightasses. So you probably won't be in Ravenclaw either, I reckon you'll be in Gryffindor with me", Remus nodded a shadow of a grin creeping over his lips. "Guess I won't know till i get there though".

Sirius nodded, glancing over to where Madam Malkin was wrapping up the robes, noticing the grin that the other boy suddenly wore he nodded as though in mutual understanding. Remus mouthed, "Three...two..one", two sets of sparks shot out and havoc broke loose. Ribbons flew like streamers through the air, cotton sailing across the floor, patterns and bows falling like confetti from the roof, the tray of pins scattered over the ground.

Both boys grinned at each other as Madam Malkin, roaring with anger, strode over. Shoving their bags into their chests before grabbing each by an ear. She dragged them forcibly, her eyes narrowed, to the door before throwing them roughly out.

Sirius landed with a thud on the pavement beside Remus, his bags scattered around him, he blinked and winced as his package filled with robes, dragon hide gloves and hat smacked him in the head, "If you two trouble makers ever come back to my shop I'll skin you alive!", Sirius grinned widely at the other boy.

Standing he began to brush dust from his robes, "That was bloody brilliant!" he exclaimed grinning down at the other boy as he slid his wand back into its box, "...had no idea she'd go so nuts" Remus replied thoughtfully.

Sirius extended a hand and pulled the other boy to his feet, "Friends then?" he asked cheerfully and the other boy nodded with a grin and clasped Sirius' hand, "Friends" he repeated. He suddenly paled as he stared over Sirius' shoulder, Sirius turned his head to look at where a surly looking wizard and a witch who wore a truly frightened expression were advancing on them.

"See you at the station then" he said picking up his bags and loading his parcel under one arm, he resumed a respectful expression and winked as he passed Sirius and walking up the witch and wizard.

"Why were you talking to that boy" the wizard snarled and Remus gave a nervous smile, "I was just coming out of Madam Malkins and walked into him, wasn't watching where I was going...no I didn't walk into him on purpose father", the other boy cast a small grin back at Sirius before following his Mother and Father down the road.

Sirius stared after them thoughtfully before shaking his head and setting off toward the Leaky Cauldron, if he was lucky Aunt Penny might still be yelling at his father. He hummed loudly as he made his way toward the pub, he slid through the archway and ran straight into a wall of navy blue robes.

He turned his head slightly and caught sight of a smug looking Aunty Penny, gulping he glanced upwards, meeting his fathers half-annoyed half-amused eyes. "Er...hello Dad", Sirius piped up cheerfully. "Sirius Black, did you telly your Auntie I sent her shopping so I could laugh at her?" his father asked cooly eyeing him levelly, "I can honestly say I did not say that" Sirius responded cheerfully.

He glanced over his shoulder nervously as two witches walked pasy, gossiping loudly, "Yeah, two of them, Poor Mrs Malkin..said they were real troublemakers, made an absolute mess of her shop. I pity poor Albus having mischief makers like that on his first year as headmaster..", Sirius began to hum loudly in an attempt to cover up the gossipers, his father turned questioning eyes on him.

"What?" he asked turning on his best innocent face, "nevermind, c'mon kiddo, we have to get back, your mums already stressing herself about packing your trunk", "Well, we should've done it last week when I-" Penny began but was cut off by Sirius' father coughing loudly and grabbing his son by the arm, "Gotta hurry Penny.." he said quickly and dragged Sirius into the pub.

A young wizard by the name of Tom waved from behind the bar, "Olly!" Sirius watched his fathers face break into a frin before he was dragged to the bar, "Tom! How are you mate?" Sirius stared at his excitable father with a raised eyebrow.

"Good Olly, Good. Guess what mate?", Oliver Black grinned at his friend, "What?". "Ol' Pettigrews selling and, he's giving me the first offer!", "That's fantastic!". Sirius allowed his head to collide with the bartop and Tom and Oliver both turned to look at him.

"Oh Tom, this is my boy, Sirius, just starting Hogwarts this year", "Really? Nice to meet ya' Sirius, Ol' Pettigrews boy is starting this year as well, 'old on he's round here somewhere", Tom turned cupping his hands before bellowing, "Hey PETE!"

A door slid open and a slight boy with dull brown hair and small watery eyes peered out before shuffling toward the bar, "Yes Tom?" he asked nervously, staring up at the huge man, "Come'n meet one of yer classmates", Peter lifted his eyes toward where Sirius was peering curiously over the bar top.

"Pete, this is Sirius Black, Sirius this is Peter Pettigrew", Sirius grinned down at the other boy. "Nice to meet you" he said politely earning a pleased smile from his father, Peter nervously extended a hand which Sirius shook enthusiastically.

"Well we should be going, Lucy'll be getting frantic". Sirius glanced up at his father as he straightened, his eyes simmering with amusement as he surveyed the the jumble of knots he'd just used to tie his fathers shoelaces together. He winked at Peter who was watching curiously, "Seeyou" he called cheerfully strolling toward the fireplace.

"Say hello to Lucy for me Olly", Tom added as Oliver Black stood, his eyes widened as he went to follow Sirius and instead faceplanted into the floor. His eyes narrowed as he pushed himself up and Tom yelped out, "Olly Mate, are you okay, what happened?", "SIRIUS BLACK!" he roared as Sirius grabbed a handful of green powder.

"SIRIUS DON"T YOU MOVE AN INCH BOY!", Sirius gave a jovial wave before throwing his powder into the fire and saying clearly, "Black Manor". 

Sirius was gone in a flash of green flame, leaving a bewildered crowd behind him.

*****


	2. Part 1 Expelliarmus

Playing With the Boys  
Chapter Two; Part One: Expelliarmus!  


Sirius' eyes gleamed with fiery amusement as his father laboured at un-tying the knots in his shoelaces the muggle-way. Occasionally Sirius would catch a snippet of his fathers savage mutterings and a proud smile would flirt with his lips. It seemed, Sirius had by 'dumb-luck' charmed his handiwork with a sealing spell. Which would explain why his father was savage jabbing a fork into the knots.

"How he bloody managed a sealing spell....at his bloody age..damn kid". His mother was for the eighth time in the last half hour checking his trunk over. They would be leaving for Kings Cross in half an hour. "Come here boy".

Sirius jumped at his fathers voice before heading over with a curious expression. "Get out your wand" he instructed cooly. Sirius followed instruction and blinked as his father demonstrated how to flick his wrist in a specific way. The fork lay forgotten on the stairs beside them. Once had wrist-flicking down to a fine art, Oliver Black decided his son was up to the next piece of instruction.

"Repeat after me carefully". "Carefully" Sirius responded with a grin. Oliver eyed him irritably, "this will untie those bloody knots". "This will untie those bloody knots" Sirius repeated faithfully. Ignoring his sons obnoxious behavious he pronounced slowly and carefully, "Ra-ve-tri-us Un-tri-o".

Sirius repeated lazily, "Ravetrius Untrio". "Brilliant. Now flick your wand like I showed you and say that". Sirius sighed, "Ravetrius Untrio" he repeated flicking his wand.

The shoe laces began to unwind from their complicated tangle and soon lay nice and neat ready to be tied. Oliver beamed. "Bloody brilliant Siri. Knew you could do it" he crowed thumping Sirius on the back. Slipping his wand back into his pocket he grinned, storing the spell away to memory for further use.

His father, a great deal happier then before, began to lace his shoes up properly. Grinning slightly as his mother appeared at the head of the stairs. Lucretsia Black was a woman of average height, she had a distinctly spanish look about her with her dark hair, big brown eyes and olive complexion.

"Oliver! Get Siri's trunk in the car!" she shrieked down at them and he glanced at her with a puzzled expression. "Can't you-" he began and she glared. "What would the neighbours think if they saw a trunk levitating in mid air!".

"Lucy darl, the closest neightbours are 8 kilome-". "I don't care!" she shrieked back. "What about the Milkman?". "But it's a Sunda-". "Do it!". Oliver grunted loudly and turned his eyes on Sirius. "Never get married son. Believe me, everything goes down hill once you've waltzed down the aisle..". 

Sirius grinned, "alright Dad".

"Now, help me with your trunk will you? I'll bloody break my back dragging that think downstairs", Sirius merely grinned. "No need Dad, watch this..". He inserted his fingers into his mouth and let out a piercing whistle which caused his father to cover his ears and Sirius' owl to screech.

A remarkable sound which sounded alot like scampering filled their ears. Oliver hurried off the stairs his face paling, "Sirius what did you do?" he hissed. As the spectacle came into view his eyes widened in shock. The heavy trunk seemed to have sprouted eight long spindly looking legs, it was crawling down the legs looking very much like a spider.

As it reached the bottom of the stairs Oliver hurriedly through a spell at it and it fell to the ground, leg-less and very much inanimate. "Don't ever do that!" his father hissed, "had your mother seen I would've been deaf for a week!".

He paused before a goofy grin crossed his face, "when did you learn that?".

"Oh. Me an' Jim were experimenting with your wand one day...". "My wand! You stole my ruddy wand!". "We didn't steal it..we borrowed it". "Flamin' hell Sirius.." he trailed off shaking his head in utter amazement.

"Look, I won't be able to see you off at the Station. Somethings come up and I'm needed at work". Sirius couldn't stop his face from falling as his fathers words echoed down on him.

Oliver seeing the look on his sons face flinched and ran a hand through his short hair. "I'm sorry Siri. Somethings happened, an entire wizarding family in Scotland was attacked and nobody seems to know who did it". Sirius' face cleared of it's saddened look in surprise, "What do you mean?" he asked immediately, his face bubbled with curiosity.

"Well. There was no-one left to tell...they're all dead...not a single mark on them according to the coroners report. Someones heading straight for Azkaban, imagine that. Using Avada Kedavra in this day and age... They've got guts i'll give them that".

"Avada Kedavra? What's that?" Sirius asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. His father sighed sadly and shook his head, "the killing curse Sirius. It's highly illegal, when we find who did it they'll be carted straight off to Azkaban" he said solemnly. Sirius seemed to lose his enthusiasm abruptly.

"Oh" was all he could manage to say. 

Oliver Black was an auror for the ministry. Working below one of the ministrys most esteemed Aurors, Alastor Moody. A prominent well respected auror who was associated with the defeat of many of the ages darkwizards. He worked as a team with Moody and another promising young auror, Frank Longbottom.

Sirius' father was still new to the profession, having taken the entrance training only a year before. He didn't have much experience yet, as not many wizards were foolish enough to try anything these days. "I've heard we're working with the best this time. We'll catch this lunatic" he reassured his son with a smile.

"Well, I should be getting this out to the car" he wrinkled his nose glancing at Sirius sideways. "Don't tell your Mum" he muttered. Tapping the trunk with his wand he muttered something before hefting the trunk easily over his shoulder and winking at Sirius.

He strolled toward the door and was outside as his Mother clattered downstairs. "Ready Siri-darling?" she asked a misty expressiong in her eyes. "Yeah" he replied dully, his mind still pondering his fathers words.

"What's wrong?" she asked abruptly and he forced an energetic smile to his face. "Nothing mum, honest. I'm feeling great, first year ya know? It's gonna be wicked!" he exclaimed projecting the excited tone easily. "You sure?" she asked and he grinned. "Of course! Me an' Jim are gonna rule the school. It'll be great".

She smiled, "I'm glad. Now we better get going. Go say goodbye to your dad". "Right mum" he said sweetly in the perfect mannerism and adorable little boy facade he reserved soley for use on his mother.

She beamed at him as she followed him outside. Sirius hurried over to where his Father had finished setting the trunk in the boot and closing it.

"So your off then?" he asked and Sirius nodded enthusiastically. His earlier bounciness seemed to be returning in abundance. "Well have a good year son. Don't cause to much trouble" Sirius beamed.

"Me dad? Never". "Of course not" Oliver replied smiling. Sirius found himself in a hearty bear hug and his father saying quietly in his ear. "Don't torment your teachers to much. I'll see you at Christmas Siri". Sirius grinned, "I won't dad, seeyou at Christmas".

He was released and blinked as he found a piece of crinkled paper stuffed into his hand. He stuck it into his pocket for later inspectiong at the wink his father gave him and turned to his mother. "Shall we go then?" he asked and she smiled.

His father brushed past him with a pat on the back before kissing his wife on the cheek. "I may be a little late getting home. I'll see you after work" he smiled at them before dissaparating on the spot.

"Let's go Sirius" his mother instructed and he hurried around to sit in the passenger seat. With a cry of "go forth to Kings Cross good chaffeur!" his mother gave him a tolerating smile before backing the car out of the long driveway.

As the drive laboured on they were finally nearing Kings Cross. Sirius was bellowing his lungs out with the muggle radio. His father was fond of muggle technology, which gave Sirius access to things such as record players and radios. They even had a television set, something which fascinated James everytime he came to their humble manor.

So as Sirius tortured his mother with his not so brilliant rendition of 'Daydream Believer', they drew closer to the station. "CHEER UP SLEEEEEEPY JEAN! OH WHAT CAN IT MEAN TO A DAYDREAM BELIEVER AND A HOMECOMING QUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!".

Sirius' minute black owl looked positively scandalised and let his discomfort known. With the owls screeching mingling with Sirius' singing it was a wonder Mrs Black managed to keep the vehicle on the road. The real problem was, that Sirius' normal singing voice was actually rather good and the facade he put on for car-rides such as these was plainly for his Mothers benefit.

He seemed to enjoy grating on her nerves. To her relief the song died and was replaced by a song Sirius didn't know the verses to. A blessing as she only had to suffer through the chorus, "I CAN'T SEE ME LOVIN' NOBODY BUT YOU! FOR ALL MY LIIIIIIFFFFFFEEEEE! WHEN YOUR WITH ME BABY THE SKY'S'LL BE BLUE FOR ALL MY LIIIIIIIFFFFFFFEEEEEE". 

"We're here!" Lucretsia cheered with relief as she pulled into the parking lot and by some act of god got a parking space near immediately. Perhaps god was feeling sympathetic to the young woman, whatever it was she decided it was about time to renew her faith.

"Damn!" Sirius cursed clicking his fingers in dissapointment. Lucretsia frowned, "language Sirius" she chided and he sighed. "I was just getting into that song to!" he exclaimed eyeing her and trying to hold a straight face. "What a shame" she replied dryly as he broke out into a crooked smile.

Sirius leaned in between the two front seats and produced his rather ruffled owls cage. "Awww doesn't Banana like my singing?" he cooed and the owl hooted indignantly. His mother tutted and let out a sigh, "honestly Sirius...why on earth did you call him Banana?". He shrugged his shoulders beaming his lopsided grin up at her, "Orange was taken?" he offered casually as he slammed the car door shut.

His mother was bent over the trunk tapping it with her wand. Catching his eyes she gave a sheepish smile. "Don't tell your father" she muttered now lifting the heavy trunk from the boot as though it were a mere tin of spaghetti.

She shut and locked up the car before they hurried toward the platforms. "Keep going dear or we'll be late" she chided from behind him. He was grinning dashingly at muggles as they watched his mother carring the heavy trunk like a block of cheese. "Body builder you know" he commented to one lady before dissolving into snickers as his mother freed a hand and smacked him over the head.

They arrived at the barrier between platforms nine and ten with only five minutes before the train left. Dashing through the barried Sirius turned to take his trunk from his mother, haphazardly balancing Banana's cage on top.

"Oh Siri. Don't you cause any trouble, have a good year, don't forget to brush your teeth..and write me!". She swooped in, hugging him around the neck before planting a kiss on his cheek.

Her eyes were tearfilled as she watched him dash for the train. Struggling with his trunk as the train gave a warning whistle, Sirius stumbled into the closest compartment. Doing a magnificent balancing act to save Banana's cage.

Setting it down he slumped panting against the door and managed to get a good look at the staring occupants of that particular compartment, sure enough they were first years. But not ones he had ever met before, which was most easily explained by the fact that the compartment was packed with giggly first year girls.

He adapted his face to a winning smile quickly and winked. "Hullo ladies, lucky miss there. Nearly lost Banana in the corridor". The girls were staring at him in an unnerving manner, "B-banana?" one asked weakly and he nodded enthusiastically toward the cage.

Banana gave a surly hoot and ducked his head behind a sleek black wing. Sirius grinned widely, "don't mind him, he's still put out about the ride up" he said cheerfully.

The girls continued to stare at him and he finally perked an eyebrow, "Whatcha'll lookin' at? Have I got somethin' funky growing out my ass?". They suddenly dissolved into more giggling and he sighed dramatically taking an extravagant bow.

One girl managing to get control of herself glanced up amidst the giggles and spoke over them. "Hi...i'm Lily", she eyed the clown as he grinned back. "Hello Lily" he replied all-to-seriously. "I'm Sirius Black", one by one the girls stopped giggling.

One girl, who picked to be an up-coming Ravenclaw, with glasses perched on the bridge of her nose and her hair pulled back in plaits spoke up bluntly, "Umm. Not meaning to be rude or anything, but this is a girls compartment..". The other girls immediately elbowed her in the ribs, stomach and generally any part of her they could reach.

"Kerry!" they hissed angrily under their breaths leaving Sirius to beam with amusement. He clutched his heart crying theatrically, "Oh dear god! Don't tell me I didn't see the Girls Only sign on the door! Please...Save me from this embarassment" he wailed collapsing over Banana's cage who hooted disgustedly.

The girl Kerry went pink and he glanced up from his supposed faint. "How pathetic", the drawling voice caused Sirius to bolt to his feet and whip his head around to the door. "Honestly Black, could you sink any lower? Becoming the court jester for your audience of mud-bloods and riffraff?".

Several girls stiffened around the compartment and Sirius let out an angry growl, "What the hell did you just say Snape" he snarled coldy. The boy was shorter then Sirius, leaning in the doorway, his lank greasy hair falling limply around a face twisted into an ugly scowl. His dark eyes were cold and glinting mockingly.

"Imagine that Black..and I actually heard your father was well respected here.. what a shame he had to have such riff-raff for a son.. and your mother..amazing that a near squib would make it into Ravenclaw". Sirius snarled angrily, advancing on the darkhaired boy menacingly, "don't you talk about my mother you slimy git." 

The girls had fallen silent, staring wide-eyed as Sirius stalked toward the smirking boy. "You say one more thing about my family Snape and i'll rip your throat out" he growled and the girl Lily jumped to her feet, "don't Sirius!" she objected and another girl pulled her down, "you don't understand Lily" she whispered.

Snape was starting to look abit nervous, Sirius was near a head taller then him and although slightly on the gangly side, had started to fill out. He had his wand out in a flash and sneered, "give me a reason Black" he hissed and Sirius' eyes glowered angrily. They had left the compartment now, Sirius backing Snape toward the corridor wall.

Snape steadied his wand his eyes flashing angrily, "one step closer Black..." he hissed, Sirius stiffened, his hands clenching into fists. He stopped and turned slowly away, "watch your back Snape" he muttered as he began to walk back toward the compartment. 

Something redhot whizzed past his left air, singing several strands of his hair. The girls shrieked yelling, "look out!". There was no need however as a third voice shouted somewhat uncertainly, "Expelliarmus!".


	3. Part 2 Will you look after my Banana?

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Two; Part Two: Will you look after my Banana..?

*****

Sirius turned to watch Snapes wand fly out of his hand and skid along the ground several feet toward the other person. Snape somewhat bewildered turned his head to follow his wands path and was met with an unfamiliar face, Sirius however cracked a huge grin.

"Well, if it isn't Madam Malkin's favourite customer" Sirius spoke up with a grin. The boy was looking slightly better, his skin had returned to a normal colour and the bags under his eyes had almost dissapeared, his amber eyes seemed somewhat stunned. "And if it isn't that lunatic I bumped into on the street.." was the reply and Sirius beamed.

Remus ran a hand through his somewhat shaggy honey brown hair and smiled somewhat nervously, slipping his own wand back into the pockets of his flared jeans and giving Snape a distasteful look. Snape was eyeing him thoughtfully before he shook his head and stalked toward his wand, stooping to pick it up he shot Sirius a nasty look, "this isn't over Black".

With that he swept down the hall his eyes flashing with thought. "Cheerful fellow isn't he?" Remus commented lightly as he patted the pocket of his jeans, Sirius' face darkened, "he's a great slimy git who should've been shot at birth" he grumbled.

"So I gathered.." Remus commented raising an eyebrow, "I heard the noise and decided to check it out. Lucky for me I did". He began to walk toward where Sirius was and the boy eyed him curiously, "how'd you do that before..with the wand?".

Remus smiled, "it's a dissarming spell..I bought a charm book from Flourish and Blotts and was practising them..good thing to. Didn't know if it would work on it". Sirius grinned, "that was cool..." he commented vaguely before he turned back toward the staring compartment of girls who were craning their necks trying to see who Sirius was talking to.

"Why were you so mad at him anyway?", Remus asked casually. Sirius' eyes darkened, "he called the girls mudbloods...bloody evil git..I oughtta've smacked him...".

Remus' face darkened, "I see" he mumbled out rubbing the back of his head. "Aah who cares aye?" Sirius broke out with a lopsided smile and dived at Remus, grabbing him in a headlock. "Thanks buddy, I owe ya one" he crowed. Sirius couldn't help but notice how awkward Remus seemed as he struggled out of the headlock and straightened his shirt eyeing Sirius.

Sirius dragged Remus into the compartment and beamed around at the girls, and of course Banana, "this good ladies is Remus Lupin" he announced. He turned faintly pink as the girls clapped politely.

He glanced at Sirius before taking a bow, the clapping became evermore enthusiastic and he gave a sheepish smile. "Take no notice of this innocent facade ladies, my friend Remus is really a wolf in sheeps clothing..".

Remus suddenly went starkwhite and Sirius blinked turning his head toward the boy, "you okay there buddy? you aren't looking so good, that git didn't curse ya did he?". Remus shook his head weakly and gave a short feeble laugh, "No i'm fine. Think I could just use abit of a walk is all..".

Sirius beamed, "brilliant idea Remy, absolutely spiffing. We can find Jim while we're at it". Sirius turned to the girls beaming, "Isn't he brilliant?". Giggling ensued and he smiled broadly, "don't worry Remy, the giggling just means they like ya". He winked at the surrounding girls and more of the cursed giggling erupted.

"Now if you ladies would be so kind as to take good care of my Banana..". "Sirius!" one girl yelped her eyes wide as she turned very pink. Remus' face took on an appalled expression, "What?" he choked and stared disbelievingly as the girls turning pink were crying with laughter. "My Banana.." Sirius repeated in all seriousness. "S-si-siri" he choked out his face with the utmost revulsion.

"My owl! Banana" Sirius snapped and Remus collapsed on the ground, at first glance from shock. But it was soon revealed he was literally howling with laughter as Banana gave a feeble hoot. "Sirius you prat" he crowed in between fits of laughter as he rolled across the floor of the compartment.

"What?", Sirius stared in confusion, running his words through his mind before his eyes bulged and he to was on the ground convulsing with laughter. This was how they were found several minutes later, by a passing Prefect wearing a confused expression, "settle down in here..your disturbing the other compartments..".

Sirius howled with laughter pointing up at the Prefect, "will you look after m-my-my Banana" he crowed. The prefect stared down at him in confusement, her face very pink, she hurried away not quite sure what to make of the compartment filled with hysterically laughing first years.

They finally stopped laughing after around ten more minutes, Remus clambered to his feet clutching his sides and wiping tears from his eyes, "Siri you prat" he wheezed and eyed the indignant owl before begginning to snicker again. One girl stood and clamped a hand firmly over his mouth, "d-dont start that again" she choked out, still being attacked by the occasional giggle fit.

She removed her hand and sank back into her seat as Remus helped poor Sirius up as he was still suffering from the fit of laughter. "Well Siri, now that your banana is taken care of.." he managed to stifle the snicker that rolled up his throat. Sirius getting himself under control attempted to look dignified by straightening and puffing out his chest.

"We'll just be going.." he murmured sheepishly and pulled Remus out of the compartment with him. Remus immediately erupted in another snort of laughter. "Brilliant! I've been waiting to use that line ever since I named him" Sirius crowed and Remus' jaw smacked the floor, "y-you prat!" he choked out as another roll of laughter escaped his mouth.

"You were acting the whole time!" Remus groaned as he clutched the wall for support. Sirius pulled a victory sign, "who is the master?" he crowed loudly.

"Certainly not you Black.." drawled a cold voice. Remus and Sirius lifted their heads to find Snape had returned, this time with a few friends in tow. The one who had spoken was a taller youth, with silverblond hair and a pale complexion. "..And this must be the big saviour you were telling us about Severus..?".

Snapes cool black gaze rested on Remus and his face twisted into a odd little smile, "that's him" he replied easily and the taller boy straightened. "I don't believe you know my friends Black" Severus said smoothly, "this is Evan Rosier, Adam Lestrange, Darius Avery and Lucious Malfoy".

Remus stood up straight and turned his eyes to where Sirius was now tense, his clear blue eyes were angry. Snapes eyes rested on Remus again and Malfoys eyes followed, "I don't believe we know your friend Black..is he a mud-blood like the other riff-raff you're family hang around?".

Remus' eyes narrowed and he stiffened, "Remus Lupin" he said cooly, his face was etched with anger. Malfoys lip curled in a sneer, "I hear the Lupins had all died out or married muggles..". Remus began to tremble violently, "why should that matter" he snapped defiantly a hint of a growl escaped his lips and Sirius blinked at his friend.

From what he'd seen of Remus so far he was usually quite calm and level-headed, even when causing trouble in Madam Malkin's he hadn't lost his cool. Malfoy began to snicker cooly, "so he is a mud-blood then". Sirius could feel his anger bubbling again, Remus looked like he was ready to jump Malfoy and start beating the living hell out of him.

"For your information.." Remus began coldy, his voice trembling with disgust. "I am pureblooded, I just happen to think like everyother decent Wizard that blood does not matter".

Sirius thumped him on the back approvingly. Malfoy began to laugh loudly and his friends joined in, "shove it Malfoy you prat" Sirius snapped. "Big words Black, what a shame you can't back them up" Snape replied silkily. 

"Yeah, who's the big tough guy now he's got his friends with him" Sirius snapped in disgust. Snape started forward and Remus drew his wand cooly, Lucius put a hand on Severus' shoulder smirking. 

"What're you going to do Lupin? Hex us?" he sneered. Remus adapted a small smile, "Oi? Is that you Siri..What's going on?". Sirius jumped and turned, his face brightened and he grinned, "Jim! Good to seeyou mate" he cried out almost forgetting their present predicament.

James Potter eyed the scene, from Remus with his wand pointed at the group to Sirius who had turned toward him. "How sickening. So Potters graced us with his presence" Snape sneered in disgust.

Sirius turned back to them and his eyes narrowed, going for his own wand. He was to slow however, Remus got to them first. What appeared to be a silvery substance spilled from his wand and coated the floor beneath the Slytherins, they immediately began to topple, slipping and sliding on the substance.

"Damn you Lupin" Malfoy hissed angrily. "You better watch your back mud-blood lover", Remus merely gave a satisfied smile and delved into his jacket pocket, withdrawing something that Sirius couldn't quite make out he tapped it with his wand before throwing it amongst the Slytherins.

As the wafts of smoke erupted and the foul stench began to fill the air Remus turned, ushering Sirius and James back up the compartment. They took off the sound of the boys disgusted yells echoing in their ears.

Sirius was near collapsing with laughter as they slumped agains the corridor wall. "Geeze Remy, I didn't know you had it in you!" he wheezed between laughter. "Did you see Snapes face Jim? Bloody brilliant!".

"For a second there I thought Malfoy was gonna curse you" James said cracking a grin as he broke out of his laughter. Remus looked perplexed, he had stopped laughing and ran a hand through his hair, "bloody gits deserved it" he muttered and Sirius nodded his agreement.

"Oh geeze, Jim this is Remus Lupin, Remy this is James Potter..or Jim". James stuck a hand out and shook Remus' violently. "Bloody brilliant mate, I'd say we've got another prankster for our team Siri". Sirius nodded hurriedly, "damn straight Jim, this guys a ledgend. You should of seen the mess we made of Madam Malkins shop..she threw us out on the pavement!".

Remus still looked slightly dazed and James was beaming, "we'll be like the three musketeers!" he cried. Sirius blinked suddenly, "hold on mate, i've gotta go find someone. You know ol' Pettigrew that owns the Leaky Cauldron..his son. He's a little bit shy but he's the good sort, didn't rat on me to my dad when I tied his shoelaces together".

The trio stood slowly and Sirius led the way down the corridor, in the opposite direction they'd left Snape and Co figure skating. Sirius peered into compartments as he went, waving to the girls as he passed, calling in, "how's my Banana doing?". James began to snicker and Remus clutched the wall again.

They continued down the corridors, Remus and James trailing behind Sirius, loudly debating his sanity. Sirius stopped abruptly peering intently through the carriage window, his face cracked into a giant grin as he turned back to the others. He slid the carriage door open and Remus and James without pausing in their heated discussion peered in over Sirius' shoulders intent upon seeing the person Sirius was so intent on finding.

Both faces fell as they found the compartment quite full. Sirius bounded inside crowing, "Pete!" loudly. He grabbed a slight, short boy from his seat and grinned, "finally found you!". As the rest of the compartment eyed the spectacle James turned to Remus and concluded, "absolutely barking".

Remus nodded, "demented" he added. James grinned, "batty". "Barmy" Remus countered. "Deranged" James chimed in, "Potty" Remus replied beaming widely at his own rather bad pun. "Loopy" James countered before snickering at his own terrible response. "Crackbrained" Remus chimed incalmly, Peter cut James off dryly by adding, "Crackers".

"He's got your number Siri" James said cheerfully. Remus tapped his chin glancing at James, "...I was running out of adjectives...", James beamed and nodded, "me too". They exchanged glances before turning toward Sirius and the pale haired boy.

"You must be Pete" James said cheerfully, Remus snorted, "thankyou Captain Obvious.." he muttered. "My pleasure General Sarcastic". Sirius took the chance to calmly smack the pair over the head and Remus blinked, "nice to meet you Pete, I'm Remus Lupin". James rubbing the back of his head offered, "Siri wouldn't shut up until we found you, I'm James Potter".

Sirius glanced at James and Remus, "reckon Snapes ickle group are still figure skating..?" he asked and Remus took on a wise expression, "shall we investigate?". James beamed, "lead the way Holmes" he piped up.

He was met with blank expressions from Remus, Sirius and Peter and turned pink. "I-it's a muggle thing...he was one of those investigators..you know that solve murders and stuff", "and you know this how Mr My-Family-Owns-A-Purple-Cat?". Remus stared bewilderedly at James, "you have a purple cat..?" he asked curiously.

"Yea... well actually. It's all Siri's fault really, he cursed her with his dads wand when she was a kitten..used to be a normal black cat. Then he got the priviledge of naming her.." he trailed off. Peter seemed to be curious as well now, "what'd you call her?" he piped up and Sirius grinned.

"Go on Jim, tell them what I named her", James turned slightly pink and muttered about the time. He began to stroll away and Sirius snickered quietly, Remus blinked, "hold on! You didn't tell us the cat's name..".

He frowned and rubbed his chin, "I shall find out by the end of the day" he declared before striding off after James. Sirius blinked, "they bloody well ditched me!" he exclaimed with wide blue eyes. "C'mon Petey, let's go watch the Ice show..".

Peter blinked stupidly after Sirius before hurrying after him with a vague, "huh?" stumbling over the hem of his robes. Catching up to where Sirius had tackled Remus and James to the ground and was having a play-fight on the ground he paused nervously and raised an eyebrow.

Remus rolled out of the scuffle panting and stood, leaning against the wall next to Peter to watch James and Sirius battle it out, faking punches and crying out in mock pain.

Sirius grinned as he threw mockpunches into James' stomach. James, to his credit played the part by gasping with pain before wrestling Sirius into a headlock.

"And the winner is...." Remus drawled and Sirius and James looked up. Peter was looking concerned while Remus had a look of dry amusement on his face, James released Sirius' head and sheepishly stood rubbing his impossible black hair with a hand as though to smooth it.

Sirius stood, straightening his jacket and grinning haphazardly, "I so kicked your ass Jim" he announced proudly. "Nuh-uh" James replied sounding disgusted at the thought. "Admit it Jim my boy, you've never once beaten me and it will never happen" Sirius replied in full confidence, puffing his chest out before pausing.

"Don't feel to bad Jim, at least you didn't roll out of the fray early like Remy here". Remus pulled a mock pout, "I didn't roll out early, I considered my options and took a well earned rest as the two of you weren't even a worthy challenge" he replied indignantly crossing his arms.

"Right Petey?" he said cooly. Peter stared at him as though he was quite mad, "er..right" he replied and Remus nodded. "See, the sane one says I won so I won".

Sirius blinked, "oh come on! Petey I won didn't I? Remy didn't even last out the whole fight!". Peter swayed nervously, "er..in all respect...James sort of came out on top..". James beamed widely, "thankyou Petey, completely correct. Sorry my dear Siri but you officially lose!".

Remus grinned and leaned back against the wall, the sound of squeaking wheels caused Sirius to drop his argument and grin widely. "That much be the lunch trolley" he exclaimed gleefully, "let's take a compartment eh?". Remus shrugged and James and Peter nodded their agreement.

"Brilliant" he exclaimed brightly. "Let's find a compartment to raid then", James tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What about Snapes compartment...we could throw them out". Sirius wrinkled his nose, "i've had enough dealings with Snape for one day thankyou Jim. Why don't we go back to the girls compartment?".

James seemed to go very pink at the thought, "trust you to pick a compartment full of girls" he grumbled and Peter nodded, his own cheeks going tomato red. Sirius sighed and shook his head, "honestly Jim, you can't tell me your afraid of a compartment full of sweet little first year girls?".

Remus snorted, "sweet?...your dreaming Siri" he muttered. "Fine..but we have to stop in anyway so I can change into my robes. I mean if we're going to be having fun all afternoon theres no point in going back to change is there?". So the others reluctantly followed Sirius toward the girls compartment. 

He grinned widely as he hung in the door beaming at the girls as they glanced up, "'lo again girls. How's Banana doing?". They rolled their eyes watching curiously as he opened his trunk and began to rummage through it, "er Sirius...what're you doing?" one of them chanced to ask.

"I'm looking for my robes" he muttered distractedly as he flung a pair of boxers out behind him, one girl squealed as they pelted her in the face before raising an eyebrow, a groan came from outside and three faces glanced in, catching a glimpse of the flying contents of Sirius' trunk James gave a loud sigh. 

"This reminds me of that time we went camping" he muttered. Sirius paused to glance up at James with a beaming expression. He shook his head before returning to his rummaging, the girls were soon ducking objects that clunked against the walls of the compartment.

"Yes! She didn't find it" he roared in triumph. Producing what appeared to be a small metal box, he grinned, "'ey Remy..catch!" he exclaimed throwing it toward the boy. On instinct Remus threw out his hands to catch it, as soon as the metal touched his hands a searing pain ripped through his hands spreading up his body, he let out a yell of pain before prising it away from his skin and allowing the box to fall to the ground with a thump.

Sirius staring at him like he was mad watched as the boy turned livid tearfilled eyes on him. "What the hell did you do that for!" he yelled angrily his voice shaking as he nursed his hand out of sight from both James and Peter who were staring at him like he was crazy.

"W-what d'you mean?" Sirius asked blankly as the boy turned and swept away down the hall without another word, Sirius' questioning gaze swept from James to Peter blankly. He shook his head wordlessly before extracting a pair of robes from the bottom of the trunk.

He wordlessly pulled his jacket, then his t-shirt over his head causing the girls eyes to widen. James blinked at his friend, "have you no shame?" he choked and Sirius blinked as he pulled the robes over his head. "What?" he asked innocently of his friend who merely sighed and shook his head before watching his friend gather clothing and various objects from around the room.

He smiled brightly as he snapped his trunk shut, "later then girls" he called cheerily as he left the compartment. His expression turned serious again as he shut the door and picked the silver box up off of the floor, "what d'you reckon that was all about?" he asked frowning.

"I dunno Siri" James replied thoughtfully. "Maybe he broke a finger or something when he caught it?" Peter suggested quietly. "Yeah..maybe" Sirius muttered. 

*****

A/n: Aiighty, second part of Chapter Two. Didn't know it was gonna be so damn long @_@;; ahh well. As you can probably gather, I don't own HP...I don't own the Marauders...I don't even own the title of this fic. It's depressing but, somewhat humbling...


	4. Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire

Playing with the boys  
Chapter Three: Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire!

*****

It was late afternoon when the Hogwarts Express finally rolled into the station. Sirius clambered out of the train groaning at the crick in his back, James and Peter clambered out behind him blinking blearily in the bright sunlight. Sirius straightened his robes before rising onto his tip toes in an attempt to look for Remus.

They hadn't seen him since the incident on the train. He nearly fell over as he saw a giant of a man who looked as though he'd swallowed in engorgement potion at a young age. His face, although young was home to a bush of brown frizz and a long beard. He's dark eyes were crinkled with excitement, he wore a huge moleskin coat that would have served as a family tent.

"Firs' years over 'ere!" His booming voice echoed over the sea of faces. Someone ahead of them yelled, "hullo Hagrid!".

Sirius turned to glance at James and beamed, "COOL!" he crowed and his friend agreed whole-heartedly. Peter seemed slightly intimidated by the huge man, being so slight in size this giant made him feel as if he were a mere rat crawling around on the ground, about to be stepped on by this tremendous man.

All thoughts of finding Remus tempoarily blanked from his mind Sirius raced off toward the giant man, skipping and darting through the crowds like a hare. "Oi! Oi I'ma first year! Who are you?". The giant man smiled warmly as the darkhaired boy skipped two and fro, his darkhair bobbing up and down as he appeared and dissapeared from view. "Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys at Hogwarts" the man announced proudly.

"I'm Sirius Black!" Sirius enthused as a swarm of first years made their way through the crowds towards them. He paused as he went to reach for Hagrids hand yelping, "there you are!". Hagrid stared in bewilderment as the bubbly first year pounced on a pale tired looking boy with amber eyes and honeybrown hair.

"Get offa me!" the other boy exclaimed half-heartedly and Sirius blinked sheepishly. "Look Remy. I'm sorry bout throwing that at you like that, I didn't mean to ya know...it's just. Sometimes I do stuff before I think" he grinned sheepishly and Remus winced, "It's okay..I did sort of over-react a little bit..".

Sirius beamed and stood up, offering Remus a hand, noting the boy used the opposite hand to what would be natural. He was still cradling his other hand out of sight, Sirius blinked and furrowed his forehead, ..he must've really hurt that hand.

James and Peter seemed to materialise out of the crowd looking a little worse for wear. Peter was looking flustered and his pale hair was tousled and windswept, James was just as pink in the face, his glasses dangling askew from an ear and his robes twisted. Sirius glanced at Remus who raised an eyebrow curiously, "who's the lucky girls...or wait...it couldn't be..." Sirius began winking at Remus who grinned.

"No...they wouldn't've....would they? Petey! Jim! I didn't know you swung that way...". James gave Sirius and Remus evil-tempered glares and set to fixing his glasses, "actually we just got mauled by Lestrange and Avery" he snapped as he pulled his robes the right way.

Peter nodded nervously as he tried to smooth his hair. "Is this everyone? Right. Everyone in a boat, four to a boat at most..". The group sauntered over to the boats, Sirius still eyeing Hagrid with fascination. As they settled inside a boat and it began to take off Remus turned rather green and chose to keep his mouth shut.

"So what happened?" Sirius spoke up and James glanced darkly toward Peter. "We were wondering where you'd gone when Peter here got pushed by some Slytherin fifth year, he ended up smacking straight into Avery and they seemed to think it was on purpose. So they dived at us, poor Pete's tiny compared to Avery the git and Lestrange..surprised me".

Sirius frowned and glanced toward Remus questioningly who was a very sickly shade of green. "Damn...boats" he moaned, closing his eyes so he didn't have to see the rippling water. 

"Alright there Potter?" a drawling voice echoed and Sirius' boat full, save Remus who refused to open his eyes, looked over to find Malfoy and Snape snickering while Avery and Lestrange looked incredibally pleased with themselves.

"Avery's just been telling me you and the snivelling little squib behind you had a bit of a scuffle. Sure you aren't needing medical attention", James ground his teeth together and clenched his fists.

"Must we suffer Malfoy? Your voice alone would drive a man to suicide" Sirius snapped in defense of his friend. Snape decided to speak up his eyes fixed on Remus, "what's wrong with your little saviour Black? Is he sleeping? Looks like he could use the rest...probably been sleeping under a bridge for the last few years".

Remus stiffened and without opening his eyes replied, "give it up Snape. I'd rather sleep under a bridge then in the same dorm as you". Sirius grinned at Snapes startled face, "good thing that Lupin. Slytherin wouldn't take riff-raff like you" Malfoy spoke up cooly eyeing the boy.

"Just as no other house would admit scum like you" James said coldly. Peter stayed very quiet during the exchange. Lestrange seemed to regain the use of his tongue and shot out sharply, "watch yourself Potter. You don't want us as enemies". Sirius snorted loudly his eyes narrowing, "to late for that" he replied with disgust. 

"And you Black...you might want to watch yourself, unless you want your father to meet an..unfortunate accident". Sirius stiffened, there was something in the malicious smile and knowing glint in the other boys eyes he didn't like. He lunged forward, the metres of water that lay between the boats forgotten.

He blinked as he found a hand tightly restraining him by the collar of his robes. Remus it seemed had grabbed him in mid-launch without opening his eyes, "calm down Siri. They're bluffing" he said cooly. James nodded hurriedly, "they couldn't touch your dad Siri, he's the most promising Auror around, aside from Moody and Longbottom that is. They can't hold a candle to him".

Sirius grinned and sank back into his seat. Malfoy snickered loudly, "that? the 'most promising Auror around?' Come on Potter...even you can't believe that. Black's fathers the thickest git ever to be sorted through Gryffindor..and that's saying something".

Remus once more prevented Sirius from catapulting himself into the watery depths and to their surprise it was Peter who spoke up, his voice was shaking with either nerves or possible anger. "Shut up Malfoy. Sirius' dads a better Wizard then you could ever be".

James grinned and smacked Peter on the back, "bloody brilliant Petey" he announced and the slight boy flushed bright pink. "Aah so the rat talks" Avery spoke up cruelly, Peter recoiled his eyes widening. He was very sensitive about his looks, more then once he had been told he resembled a rat.

"Just keep your mouth shut you slimy git" Peter shot back and Sirius' face broke into an amused grin, "you tell 'im Petey" he crowed. "Way to go Pete" Remus offered weakly. He still looked the oddest shade of green.

There was an explosion of clapping from the boat behind them and the boys turned to look, even Remus chanced to take a peek. A group of the first year girls Sirius had asked to 'look after his banana' were cheering, the red-head Lily amongst them. "You tell them Siri!" Kerry the girl with plaits cried out.

Lily waved her arms madly, "good on you Peter!" she yelled. Remus gave a weak smile as Peter went very very pink. The verbal spar came to an abrupt halt however as the groups happened to chance a look in the distance. Their eyes widened with awe as the giant castle known fondly as 'Hogwarts' loomed over them.

Sirius gasped crying out, "holy shit!". "My thoughts exactly.." Remus murmured in awe and James snickered, "I can't see you swearing Lupin" he offered and Peter followed up in the snickering. Remus stuck out his bottom lip, "theres a highly educated brain behind my innocently charming features i'll have you know" he replied pompuously and one of the girls from behind wailed, "Hell yeah Remus!".

He turned pink and raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, "anyway..the point is if need be..I can swear as much as I damn well want to". James stared in mock horror before clutching his ears, "my poor...poor ears. Siri! He's poisoned my mind I tell you!". Peter snickered quietly before the lot of them lurched forward as the boat rammed into the shore more then a little forcefully. Sirius, who had taken a rather unfortunate perch on the front of the boat was thrown out of it and landed with a heavy thud on the shore.

He moaned loudly and closed his eyes as loud guffawing laughter came from his friends, James jumped nimbly from the boat before extending him a hand, "that was worth a laugh Siri" he said beaming. Remus appeared beside him grinning, his pale face alight with laughter.

He pushed out to give Peter some room to squeese between them. "Your alright then?" he asked wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, "yes..for all that you care" Sirius said playfully pouting. There was a squeal and the girls of Sirius' compartment appeared, "are you okay Sirius?" one brunette asked bending down to inspect his head with worried blue eyes.

"Aah, of course I'm alright. After all I am the indestructable Sirius Black!" he concluded this with a neat looking spring from his back onto his feet and dusted his hands off. Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced from James to Peter and back to Sirius, "...hey.. you have to teach me how to do that!" James exclaimed.

Sirius grinned, "aah Jim, I'm sorry to say that you would break your back attempting it" he shook his head as though this was a very sad thing indeed and James scowled. Remus rolled his eyes, "in other words it was a fluke" he announced loudly before turning to follow Hagrid up a narrow path.

"Oi! It was not a fluke! Remy you get back here! Take it back Lupin!" Sirius wailed before racing after the boy, James and Peter in tow. James easily passed Sirius snickering as he did so and came to a rest beside Remus throwing an arm around the other boys shoulders. "So it was a fluke then?" he asked calmly over his shoulder, intentionally provoking Sirius.

Sirius' eyebrow twitched before he exploded with a, "Damnit Potter! It was not a fluke and you bloody well know it". Remus and James looked at each other, in unison repeating, "FLUKE!". 

Peter arrived, panting heavily as he'd had to skip around several students on the narrow path. "I-i don't think it was a fluke Sirius" he panted and Sirius grinned widely. "Aah! Here's a real friend. Not a delusional jealous one like two persons I know".

James stuck his tongue out childishly at Sirius and Remus pulled down the corner of his eye with a loud, "Nyah!". 

Hagrids booming chuckle echoed over them and they paused in mid face pulling to look at him, "what?" Sirius asked bluntly and the groundskeeper wiped his eyes on his large coat. "The Professors'll have a field day with you lot" he managed amidst his chuckling.

"And here we are then", 'here' was crowded on a flight of steps, standing near the top of two towering iron doors. Hagrid knocked firmly three times on the iron and in response was three thunderous booms that sent vibrations through the stairway they stood upon, almost immediately the door creaked open and a young witch stood in the doorway.

She must've only been in her mid twenties, her auburn hair held in a tight bun and her eyes glinting sternly behind wireframe glasses. "The first years Hagrid?" she asked calmly and he nodded, "yeah. That's 'em Professor", she gave a rare smile to the groundskeeper who stepped back.

The witch stepped fully out onto the top of the stairs turning her eyes over them, she wore plain deep burgandy robes with gold fastenings. "Welcome to Hogwarts" she announced cooly. Her shrewd gaze swept the crowd again, from the pale nervous faces to a few cooly confident defiant stares that met hers.

"I am Professor Mcgonagall, head of Gryffindor House and Transfigurations Professor at this School. Gryffindor is one of the four houses that you will be sorted into in a few minutes. I'll ask you all to come inside where I will explain further". She turned and swiftly walked back inside, the students hurriedly following her like lost sheep.

She paused and waved them into an open doorway. Sirius stared around the thin, dull looking room expectantly and began to bounce on the soles of his feet. "Come on..come on" he muttered and Mcgonagall shot him a cold frown, he sheepishly stopped bouncing and watched her pause infront of them all again.

There was a simple door at the front of the room, Sirius was itching to find out where it led to, considering he could hear a great deal of noise coming from inside. "In a moment, you will all be sorted into your respective houses. There are four Houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts your house will be like your home, you will eat, sleep and spend your spare time with your house. Your house is like your family. When you do something good you will earn your house points, but any disobeying the rules and points will be deducted."

She looked over their faces, eagerly taking in information and a wry smile found it's way onto her lips. Give them a few days and they'll lose any interest they had in learning. "Now will Mister Lupin please come with me. I have to speak with you..". Remus blinked in surprise and found interested eyes on him as he obediently followed her outside the hall and back into the giant entranceway they had arrived in.

"Professor Dumbledore will want to speak with you after you've been sorted I expect. I will come retrieve you, but the traindriver owled ahead that you were injured?". Remus winced and held out his lefthand, laying his palm out flat. She recoiled visibly at the sight, his palm looked as though it had been coated in undiluted bubotuber pus. 

"Dear dear" she whispered sadly. "What happened?", he shifted slightly. "I accidently caught a box...it was made of silver" he explained quietly and she nodded in understanding. "Poor boy" she said with a sigh, "I will just get Madam Pomfrey, she can strap it for you".

He waited nervously as she dissapeared into a door several spaces up from the one he'd come from. He glanced over at the door and watched curiously as it cracked open and three pairs of eyes peered out, he grinned and winked at them. Mouthing, "It's fine". They nodded and James mouthed back something that looked like, 'full details' before the door snapped shut again.

Not a minute to soon it seemed as Mcgonagall reappeared, another young woman in her late twenties behind her. She gave Remus a pitying look as she produced her wand, "alright then Mister Lupin" Mcgonagall said calmly. He outstretched his palm and Madam Pomfrey winced visibly. "Poor boy" she muttered as she murmured beneath her breath, bandages materialised out of nowhere and safely strapped his hand.

She smiled before turning back toward the door and dissapearing back into it. Mcgonagall nodded, "That's all Lupin" she said calmly and he followed her back into the hall filled with first years. Sirius was bouncing up and down again and beamed at Remus as he reappeared. 

"Professor!" Sirius admonished loudly acknowledging Remus' bandaged hand. "What'd you do to him!" he wailed and Mcgonagall shot him an icy glare. James smacked Sirius over the head, "you did that you dolt" he muttered and Sirius winced. "Oops...sorry Remy".

Mcgonagall muttered indiscretely before tossing her head and throwing the door at the head of the room open. "Line up in single file. You will line up facing the tables in front of the staff table. Is that clear...for gods sakes tidy yourselves up, you! I can see your jeans underneath your robes. You are supposed to be wearing full uniform...oh forget it" she sighed before waving them into a line and leading them into the great hall.

Sirius stared awestruck at the sea of faces that swam out in front of him. Hundreds of candles were lit and floated over the tables, whispering coursed through the students and the first years squirmed. Behind him the Professors looked down on them thoughtfully, in the middle Sirius saw the silverhaired wizard and grinned excitedly, waving a hand jovially he roared "Albus!".

Dumbledore chuckled and returned the wave while Professor Mcgonagall gave him a dissaproving frown, "hold your tongue" she snapped as Remus gave a small admiring glance at the headmaster. James stared queasily out at the sea of faces and gave a soft moan, Sirius clapped him on the back. "Don't worry Jim my boy, your a shoe-in for Gryffindor".

Peter gave an undignified squeak, "i'll probably be in Hufflepuff" he muttered dejectedly and Remus blinked. "Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad, it's Slytherin i'm worried about. Imagine having to share the same dorm with Snape and Co...no thanks" Sirius spoke up brashly. Remus squirmed and felt as though his knees would buckle.

His eyes fell on a short stool upon which rested a tattered old hat. It was frayed and had been patched many times by the looks of it, puzzled as to why it was there he leant forward to peer at it. As he did so one of the rips stretched before arching wide open like a mouth. Remus jumped with a yelp of surprise and Sirius snickered behind his hand.

That hat to their surprise gave a loud yawn and the students all around the hall eagerly awaited something. It's brim began to move and something no-one seemed to have expected happened. In fact Dumbledore even looked surprised, "Aah Buggar it. I've been thinking all bloody year and I don't have a damn song". Mcgonagalls eyes bulged and she clapped a hand over her hanging jaw.

"Gryffindor is for the brave little nasties. Hufflepuff is for the loyal idiots. Ravenclaw is for all you swatty little prats and Slytherins for the evil gits got it?". The first years stared wide-eyed at the hat and nodded meekly.

Dumbledore rose from his seat with a chuckle and skipped down the table before sweeping the hat off of the stool. "It seems we have a minor delay...a magical malfunction you might call it" he said, a twinkle of amusement shining in his eyes.

He pulled out his wand and proceeded to bash the hat steadily with it. The students looked appalled and several were laughing behind their hands. He smiled broadly as he set it down, "that should do it" he announced before returning to his seat. The hat gave a huffy mutter, "as I said. I am the Hogwarts sorting hat...Oh will you just get on with it woman I don't have a song for you!".

Mcgonagall turned pink and picked up a thick scroll hiding her face behind it she called. "Adams, Patricia", a very green looking girl stumbled forward and jabbed the hat onto her head it snidely called out "Hufflepuff!"."Avery, Darius", Snapes cronie stumbled forwards and the hat didn't hesitate in placing him in Slytherin. "Baker, Emily" went to Ravenclaw while "Baine, Michael" became the second Hufflepuff. Sirius strutted forward confidently as his name was called and set the hat lightly on his head.

At once a chuckle entered his brain that was definitely not his own. "Well well, another Black at Hogwarts? This should be interesting, oh dear...a lot more mischief inclined then your father I see...alot more imagination as well..must be from your mother. Well it's obvious where you should be my boy..GRYFFINDOR!".

A table erupted with cheers as their first new student swept over grinning madly. He pulled victory signs at Remus, James and Peter who looked as pale as milk. There wasn't much of interest to him save Lily the girl from the compartment being sorted as a Gryffindor, Lestrange was sorted to Slytherin and finally Remus was up.

As soon as the name 'Lupin' rang in the air all the teachers seemed to snap to attention. Eyeing the boy thoughtfully and others with disgust, he sat and the hat began to contemplate. It seemed to be several long minutes before the hat crowed, "Gryffindor!". Sirius erupted in cheers with the rest of the table yelling over the top, "GO LOOPY LUPIN!". Remus turned pink and slunk into the seat beside Sirius.

They watched intently as Malfoy was sorted to Slytherin until it was Peters turn. White as a sheet he sank down on the stool and jammed the hat down over his eyes, the hat seemed to be fairly sure because it quickly summed him up as a Gryffindor. Sirius and Remus exchanged glances before standing to applaud their friend.

As 'Peirson, Anita" was sent to Slytherin James shuffled nervously in the line which was slowly growing smaller. He jumped as his name was called before striding forwards presenting a confident face, he rammed the hat down over his ears and sighed with relief. "Oh another Potter. Haven't sorted one of those in a while...well well...seems a troublemaker has crept into the Potter gene.. your mother must've been very mischevious as a girl...hmm let me see..Potter. Where shall I put you? Really it's quite obvious..don't know why I didnt think of it at the start. GRYFFINDOR!".

Peter, Sirius and Remus exploded in cheers as James grinned widely and left the stool. His face regaining colour as he set the hat back on the stool and rushed over, sliding into the seat opposite them between another first year boy and Lily from Sirius' apartment. 

He grinned infectiously at the others, "god but that was nerve-wracking" he wheezed and the boy next to him nodded hurriedly. "I was so nervous. It kept on saying maybe Ravenclaw was better...or was it Hufflepuff" he rubbed his face and Sirius grinned. "Hey look Slimy Snapes a Slytherin, what a surprise" he announced pointing as the greasy haired boy joined his friends.

"How can he stand having his hair so..oily" Peter muttered distastefully as he stared expectantly down at the gleaming plates. Remus eyeing the gleaming cutlery suspiciously. As the sorting died off Dumbledore stood, "Welcome, Welcome to Hogwarts. Tonight I would like to thank our first years for a most interesting sorting-". Sirius stood up on his seat waving his hands he roared, "No Problem Albus!".

Remus and James casually grabbed an ankle each and uprooted him. Sirius winced as he stared up at them from his new-found position on the ground, he jumped up calling, "i'm alright!". Dumbledore chuckled quietly as the boy took his seat again. "That's good to hear Mister Black" he replied before shaking his head. "I hope you all have had a good holiday, and for those whose first year it is here. I hope you enjoy your time at Hogwarts. This as you all know is my first year as Headmaster of this school and I couldn't be more honoured then to accept the position. Mister Filch has asked me to remind you that Dungbombs are not an accepted part of the stationary list..and as always the Forbidden Forest bordering on the school grounds as is implied, Forbidden".

"This year Professor Blossom has asked me to inform you of a recent addition to the grounds. A very rare whomping willow has been planted, I advise all who want to keep their limbs attatched to avoid it keenly..Now let's eat shall we". Sirius was about to argue when his jaw dropped, where before their had been empty platters sat piles and piles of perfectly cooked food.

He began to salivate as he piled food onto his plate, Peter eyed him doubtfully as though unsure Sirius could eat all of it. James noticed this and decided to enlighten the poor sod, "Sirius has a bottomless stomach Pete. He is never actually full, strange really..." Sirius grinned from a mouthful of chicken. "I could eat an entire turkey if i had to Pete" he announced proudly, "and still have room for dessert".

Remus smiled weakly and reached for a spoon before he felt a tap on his shoulder, "a moment of your time Mister Lupin?". Albus Dumbledore stood calmly over his shoulder, Remus jumped and hurriedly stood. "Of course" he choked out and followed the silverhaired wizard outside.

James stared after Remus thoughtfully, "is there something about Remy we aren't aware of?"he mused aloud and Sirius swallowed thickly. "Maybe he's really a vampire in disguise?" he suggested and Peter shuddered. "He couldn't be" James said quickly, "he doesn't have the teeth for it".

Sirius nodded his agreement, "he does look a bit sickly on it doesn't he though? Maybe he just wasn't well recently" James nodded, "Yeah that's probably it Siri". Peter relaxed again and began to eat quietly. Sirius leaned over to peer at the vast selection of foods, his eyes gleamed as he saw a particuarly large bowl full of, "Mint Humbugs! Alright!".

James winced as his friend took a handful and shoved them into his pocket, humming like mad as he took another chicken wing "Goodness gracious" Lily whispered. James covered his ears abruptly, "don't do it Siri" he warned and Sirius beamed maniacally setting the chicken wing down he swallowed loudly. Opening his mouth James began to stretch, trying to find a way to clamp Sirius' mouth shut.

Sirius' voice however came out loud and clear, unlike his earlier singing he actually sounded rather good. But this didn't seem to stop James trying to lunge at him.

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. To much love drives a man insane. You broke my will...but what a thrill. Goodness gracious great balls of fire! ". "NO NO NO!" James yelled as Lily began to giggle and Sirius began to attract attention, he was putting on the voice and all. Making a real act out of the whole thing. 

He lifted up a chicken drumstick from his plate as though it were a microphone and continued, now singing into it. "I let you love but i'm part of this mind, you came along and woo-ed me honey. I've changed my mind. She looks fine. Goodness gracious great balls of fire!". Sirius was now attracting a great deal of attention, from both the Gryffindor and neighbouring tables.

There was no doubting he was good. But James was moaning in agony, "you set him off" he grumbled at Lily who was giggling madly with her friend. "Kiss me baby...mmmm feels good!". He was clapped off by Peter wrapped a hand over Sirius' mouth to James' joy.

"I want to eat without people staring over here" he said calmly in his defense. Sirius seemed quite put-out that his song had been cut off. James was crowing loudly with triumph and the tables had stopped staring by the time Remus reappeared and began to pile his plate with literally towers of food. If Peter had thought Sirius' plate was full, he was flabbergasted by the amount of food Remus had managed to fit on one plate before begginning to eat it at a rapid rate. He was even paler then he had been when he left but a good deal happier.

"What was that about?" Peter asked and Remus shrugged. "Nothing important. But I did remember something very important, What the hell is your cats name Jim" he asked curiously. James blinked at him, "n-no i'm not telling!" he stuttered, Lily seemed intrigued.

"What's so interesting about a cat?" she asked shortly. "It's purple" Sirius explained. "..And Sirius named it. Jim won't tell me what it's bloody name is though!" Remus frowned and Lily blinked and pouted. "I wanna know.." she murmured and turned to him. Her red hair swung over her shoulders and her emerald eyes dissolved into a puppy dog look. Sirius shook his head, "amature! Let me show you how it's done.." Sirius coughed before producing an adorable little puppy-dog look that made Lily squeal. "That is so cute".

Remus rolled his eyes, "amatures the both of you." He announced cooly, "let the master guide you" he grinned before turning on the biggest big-brown puppy dog eyes known to existing man. Sirius' eyes bulged, "'shoogawdman!" he choked and Remus grinned wickedly.

James closed his eyes, "Forget it! I'm not telling you" he snapped and fumbled for his chicken bone. "But James...you can't possibly be ....scared of telling us one itsy bitsy little name can you?".

James glared coldly at Sirius who grinned wickedly. "Hey it's your cat Jamsie my boy", "prat" James muttered and crossed his arms defiantly. "NO" he said stoutly. "Oh go on Jamesie my boy..." Remus pleaded and Lily stuck out her bottom lip. 

She turned back to her friend in irritation and began to talk excitedly about classes next day. "I'll find out James...one way or another" Remus muttered and Sirius reached for his drumstick. James seeing the warning signs moaned aloud and ducked his head as Sirius belted out loudly.

"One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha. One way or another, I'm gonna be ya, i'm gonna getcha getcha getcha, One way or another, I'm gonna seeya, i'm gonna meet cha meet cha meet cha, one day, maybe next week. Im gonna meetcha, I'm gonna meetcha, i'll meetcha. I willll drive past your house, and iiiiiffffff the lights are all down, i'll see whos arounddddd".

Sirius was by now getting loud catcalls and applause for the live entertainment. Beaming he stood up on his seat for the second time that evening and continued to shamelessly belt out the lyrics. "One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha. One way or another, I'm gonna be ya, i'm gonna getcha getcha getcha, One way or another, I'm gonna seeya, i'm gonna meet cha meet cha meet cha, one day, maybe next week. Im gonna meetcha, I'm gonna meetcha, i'll meetcha. And if the lights are all out, i'll follow your porsche downtown. See who's hanging arounnnddddd".

James began to bang his head on the table but to no avail, Remus was amusedly watching Sirius' performance. Somehow by some form of enchantment the background music kicked in and Sirius grinned widely as the instrumental kicked out, he glanced up at the staff table where Mcgonagall looked as though she were fighting to stop him but a better-humored professor was stopping her.

Dumbledore was applauding politely as he watched with amusement. The next line of lyrics rolled off Sirius' tongue as his fellow Gryffindors watched in somewhat awe at the firstyear who appeared to have no shame, " One way or another, I'm gonna lose ya! I'm gonna give you the split..or slip on ahead or another. I'm gonna lose ya, I'll trick ya, i'll trick ya. One way or another, I'm gonna lose ya. I wanna trick ya trick ya trick ya trick ya. One way or another, I'm gonna lose ya, I'm gonna give you the split".

From the Ravenclaw table Kerry and Remus' admirer were waving madly. "I walk down the hall, stand over by the wall. Here I can see you'll find out me. I reach into the supermarket checkouts, the specials and giftwrap through the crowds. One way or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha.One way or another... I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha. " he trailed off taking a deep bow.

Tumoltous applause mixed with laughter and cat-calls erupted and he grinned widely before taking a seat. Remus shook his head as he took a bite of chicken, Sirius was grinning broadly, "should've let me get it out of my system before Petey my lad. Once I start I just can't stop" he beamed as he started to plough into his food again.

Remus casually glanced at James, "sooo....What's your cats name?". James opened his mouth automatically, "you didn't take pity upon my ears by shutting Sirius up so.. i'm not telling". "Yes you are" Remus replied calmly, "or i'll shove my chicken wing up your nostril".

James seemed to be contemplating his options, on one hand he could have a chicken free nostril and face eternal taunting on the other hand he could have a decently enlarged nostril and a constant chickeny-smell in his nose. He rubbed his chin and glanced at Remus who looked good and ready to go through with his threat, "alright" he sighed defeatedly. "But you breathe a word and you are dead you hear me?".

Remus nodded eagerly and James leaned across the table, Remus stood and leaned across James whispered quietly in his ear and Remus' eyes bulged before a puzzled expression took over. ".....That's it?" he said slowly. James seemed hurt, he hung his head and waved his hands at Sirius, "it's just so....SIRIUSY". 

"That's not even a word" Remus snorted and James pulled a face. "What are you? The Oxford Dictionary?" he snapped and Remus pulled a face. "At least I use REAL words" he retorted and James poked his tongue out. Lily turned on Remus eagerly, "what's the cat's name Remy?" she asked and Remus rolled his eyes, "it's -" Sirius had clamped a hand firmly over Remus' mouth muffling the rest of his sentence.

"Keep your mouth shut buddy. Jim can turn rather nasty every now and then" Remus pulled a face. "But it's only-" Sirius shook his head, "I'll explain later" Remus nodded and turned to contemplating the possible meaning behind it. After all, who would be upset about having a cat named Jimmy?


	5. Dancing Queens, Macho Men and the Head B...

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Four: Dancing Queens, Macho Men and the Head Boy really wants to ride his Bike...

*****

A nasty prod to the back of the head produced a sleepy, disgruntled groan from the darkhaired boy bundled up in blankets. He snuggled deeper into the bedclothes and mushed his face further into the giant fluffy pillows. "Siiiirrrrrriiiiiiiuuuuussssss" someone whispered over his ear. Hot breath tingled on the air and he shifted again as the person(s?) poked him in the back of the head again. 

Snickering came as the voice whispered again, "Siiiiiiirrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiuuuuussssss". "Stop it" he moaned, "tha' tickles" he managed to mumble through the thick muffling of his pillows. Another poke in the back of his head was followed by a whimper, "Sirrrrriiiiiiiiiuuuuussssss" came the voice again, breath tickled his ear and he sat bolt upright. Picking up one of the pillows he threw it blindly in the direction of his tormenters.

"Go awaaaaay" he whimpered as he flopped back onto the matress. There was a yelp as the projectile apparently hit one of it's targets. Something large and soft smacked him over the head and he groaned as he sat up, sleepy-eyed and tousle-haired. As he had suspected the pair of tormenters were grinning madly at him, Peter and James stood looking rather pleased with themselves, James especially.

"What the heck was that for?" Sirius whined as the pair beamed down at him. "For the little show you put on last night" James replied matter of factly as he adjusted his classes, apparently he had been the one hit by the pillow. "Why didn't you bug Remus?" he mumbled and James brightened. "Aah wonderful idea" he exclaimed and turned toward another fourposter.

The hangings were drawn tightly around the bed the occupant presumably fast asleep. James and Peter turned, creeping toward the bed, James stealthily pulled the curtains open and stared blankly at the empty bed. It was a mess, the blankets tossed all over the place, the pillows at odd ends of the bed, he leaned over blinking, Peter followed suit.

"Er...Remy?" James asked timidly, rifling through the bedclothes in a dazed mood. He eventually crawled onto it, lifting the covers up as though his friend could be hiding amidst them, Peter joined him on it frowning. "Where'd he go?" he asked confusedly, the pair were suddenly flattened to the ground by a free-falling, rather amused youth.

James let out a yell as he was crushed from the aerial attack, Remus now satisfied stood and began rifling through his trunk for robes. "Why'd you do that!" he yelled, mostly annoyed that his attack had been foiled by a counterattack. Peter looked rather dazed and Sirius was quite literally laughing his ass off.

"Well. I heard you plotting your attack so I thought i'd give you a little surprise" Remus flashed them a grin. "Where were you?" Peter asked still sprawled on Remus' bed. Remus shrugged, "right above you", Peter raised his eyes to the canopy of the fourposter. "How'd you get up there?" Sirius asked blinking. 

"I climbed" Remus snorted. Remus began to chuckle quietly as he extracted a pair of robes and sauntered off toward the bathroom, "bloody hilarious" James muttered sarcastically as Sirius snickered. "Seems Remy's to smart for you Jim, and's got a killer sense of hearing". Peter stood and pulled a face, "scared the wits out of me" he muttered quietly and shook his head.

There was a sleepy groan and from behind one of two still shut curtains came a sleepy grunt of, "will you guys shut up". Sirius pulled a face at the drawn curtains and stretched, "well Remy's got the right idea. I'm gonna have a shower", he began to rifle through his trunk, flinging it's contents all over the floor in search of his Robes.

"Ah! There you are..." he commented as he withdrew them, lifting his head to where a bewildered looking Peter had a sweater draped over his head and to James who held a pair of socks in one hand. "Bloody hell Siri, watch where your throwing stuff" James muttered throwing the socks at their owner, "ahh shut up" Sirius replied.

Peter weakly threw Sirius' sweater back at him before rifling through his own trunk. Sirius dissapeared toward the showers leaving James to frown thoughtfully, he sighed before gathering up his robes and taking off toward the shower. He passed Remus, who was still smiling, thought somewhat less enthusiastically, and rubbing his hair with a towel. The dripping strands were hanging limply in his eyes. 

Remus slunk back into the dorm, still rubbing furiously at his hair. He took a seat on his messy bed and surveyed the damage of hurricane Sirius with somewhat amusement. A pair of jeans were hanging from the top of his own fourposter. He gave a wide yawn and glanced toward the two other beds.

Slipping his wand into his pocket from the bedside cabinet he dug under his bed for the bag he had filled with his books. Grabbing it he pulled the closest one from the top. Settling down beside the bed he opened the book after a quick glance at the title, 'A Begginners Guide to Transfiguration'. He stared intently down at the text reading over the first page.

'Transfiguration is one of the most difficult branches of Magic to master. It is considered highly dangerous without proper instruction..' Remus snapped the book shut. Already the subject didn't take his fancy, maybe that was a direct reflection on the fact that Professor Mcgonagall seemed to be a nasty old bat. He pulled out a second book and shivered unconsciously, 'Aiding yourself against the Dark Arts; Level One'.

None the less he allowed the book to slip open, he was enthralled from the first sentence. 'Defense Against the Dark Arts is a highly important part in any young Wizard or Witches training-' he blinked as a head popped over his shoulder, "whatcha readin'?". Remus couldn't help but laugh as Sirius tried to remain upright. Eventually he fell right over, landing half sprawled in Remus' lap and half on the floor.

He gave a pained moan before turning on Remus who was laughing loudly by now. Sirius' still damp hair was clumped over his face, dripping all over the floor and his clothes. "Ow.." he mumbled as he sat up, dragging himself off of Remus with an apologetic grin before shuffling closer to get a look at the book.

"Isn't that the Defense book?" he asked peering underneath the book to see the cover. "Yeah" Remus replied noncommittedly as he went back to reading. "NO!" Sirius cried out as though he were in agony. "Don't tell me your a closet swat-boy Remy? It can't be true!" he wailed and Remus eyed him with a raised eyebrow.

"I just think it's interesting is all" he replied quietly and Sirius blinked. Remus' face had fallen from it's amused expression in a matter of seconds. He now looked quiet, sad and possibly scared. Sirius blinked before shrugging and in an attempt to lighten the mood chattered, "well Remy. At least if we have a friend who's good at Defense we have someone to copy Papers from right?" he grinned and Remus rolled his eyes.

Pleased with the considerable improvement Sirius plucked the book from Remus' hands. "Jim and Pete should be getting their lazy asses out here soon so we can have come breakfast. And I just might have an idea at getting them back for their morning excursions" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"But I already got them.." he commented and Sirius frowned. "You wouldn't leave me on a revenge mission alone would ya Remy?" he pleaded and Remus laughed nervously. "Of course i'll help you" he replied and Sirius grinned. "Brilliant, since they enjoyed my singing yesterday so much I thought i'd give them a chance to prove themselves...It all depends on you Remy my pal, you see...I just need one little charm..".

"Oh?" Remus replied and Sirius nodded. "I know what it is and everything, I just need you to distract them while I charm their food...". Remus grinned and nodded, "I can handle that" he replied and the pair stood abruptly as James and Peter arrived still rubbing their heads vigorously with towels in an attempt to stop the soaking mess.

"Thanks for that Remy, I was wondering how you learnt that disarming spell" Sirius said airily and Remus blinked in confusion for several seconds before catching on. "Oh yea...No problem" he murmured and Sirius winked at him. "Well are you guys hungry or what? I'm absolutely starving...".

Sirius slid an arm around James' shoulders before leading the boy out of the dorm. Remus felt a smile twinge his lips as he and Peter followed them, Peter turned towards Remus suddenly muttering so the other two couldn't hear, "do you reckon Sirius fancies James?". Remus began sputtering and near fell down the remainder of the stairs while Peter blinked at him, he ended up tripping on his shoelaces and landing facefirst in the commonroom carpet.

Peter hurriedly helped him up before muttering, "he's just ya know...always hugging him and stuff", Remus glanced at the boy who seemed one hundred percent genuine. "Nah...I think that's just the kind of person Sirius is.." Remus replied eyeing the darkhaired pair thoughtfully from where they'd turned to guffaw as he clambered back to his feet.

Sirius winked discretely as they left the commonroom and began a long and gruelling search for the great hall. It seemed all of them had been two tired or two full to take much notice of how they got to the Gryffindor tower last night, and now they were paying for it.

Remus' stomach had started to growl as loudly as Sirius' by the time they reached the familiar giant doors they'd been lead out of last night. "Ah! There they are" James yelled and the four of them took off toward them as though if they didn't hurry they might never see them again.

They skidded inside and were met with several amused glances, they hurriedly took seats at the Gryffindor table and busied themselves with piling their plates with food. Sirius nudged Remus discretely who took up the challenge greatly, "what do you guys reckon'll be the best class?" he piped up loudly and Sirius sent him a grin as he discretely stuck his wand first into James' then Peter's plates of food.

James shrugged, "I reckon Transfiguration sounds pretty cool" he said and Remus pulled a face. "Sounds boring to me" he continued as Sirius carefully muttered beneath his breath, "I reckon Herbology sounds okay...Me mum says I'm good with Plants" Peter piped up and Sirius nodded at Remus. He was finished.

Interested to see how it was going to work Remus pointedly took a mouthful of food. Sirius followed suit before his eyes bulged, Peter had shoved a piece of bacon back onto the tray in the centre of the table. "Ugh...I hate the bits that are all burnt..reckon anyone'll notice".

Remus turned to Sirius who nodded toward the bacon tray before mouthing, 'Don't eat anything from that tray!'. Remus nodded and he grinned as James took a large bite out of his eggs, Peter took a bite from a bit of toast and his eyes bulged. James seemed to have the same effect as he swallowed he clapped a hand over his mouth, he was however unable to muffle the undeniable sound of his own singing.

Peter to his own embarassment joined in. "Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars..let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.." James jumped on Sirius and began to throttle him as he continued to sing, almost uncontrollably. Peter tried to stifle the noise by covering his mouth with both hands but to no avail.

"In other words hold my hand. In other words darling kiss me" James gave a wail as other students became interested, the teachers also turned to watch this peculiar behaviour.

"Fill my heart with song and let me sing for ever more. You are all I long for. All I worship and adore. In other words please be true, In other words I love you". Sirius and Remus were by now rolling around on the floor with laughter, Peter was very very pink and James was still trying to throttle Sirius.

"Only you, only you. Fill my heart with song, and let me sing forever more, you are all i long for, all I worship and adore. In other words please be truuuuuuue. In other words I love you. In other words I love youuuuuu". Sirius roared with laughter as Peter and James, now freed from the charm began attacking the two laughing boys.

"You ruddy prat!" James roared as Sirius cried with laughter. The other students were snickering loudly as well before James lightened up with a grin. "That was a bloody good prank! Why the hell didn't you do it to the Slytherins instead!". Remus' eyes suddenly went very round. "Oh!...we..still...can" he murmured. 

Sirius caught on and stood up, sweeping up the bacon tray he dissapeared toward the Slytherin table. He returned several minutes later beaming widely, "well my friends. Now all we have to do is sit and wait...and hope Snape and Malfoy like bacon" he grinned wickedly before they sat up.

Peter still very pink was slightly sulky, although slightly cheered on the prospect of seeing the Slytherins make even bigger fools of themselves then he had. They sat in relative silence, watching the Slytherin table intently, James suddenly began to snicker loudly, he had glimpsed Malfoy taking a large bite out of a piece of bacon.

He waited, when suddenly... "You are the dancing queeeeeeen, young and sweeeeet only seventttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeen" the four gryffindors dissolved into laughter as they saw Lucious Malfoy, in his full glory bellowing his lungs out. "You can dannnnnnnceeeeeeee, you can jiiiiiiiiiivvvvvveeeee, having the time of your liiiiiiiiffffeeeeeeeee, ooooooooh see that girl, watch her swiiiiiiiinnnnggggg-".

They couldn't even hear Malfoy anymore they were laughing so hard, then another voice interrupted Malfoy. Another had taken a bite out of the bacon, "here we come. Walking down the street. Get the funniest looks from everyone we meeeetttt, Hey hey we're the Monkees! And People say we monkey around-". More and more voices added to the furious battle to be heard to the confusement to their owners.

To the four Gryffindors amusement a Slytherin fifth year girl and a seventh year boy began a duet. "Ain't no Mountain High...Aint no Valley low...ain't no river wide now baby- If you need me call me no matter where you are, no matter how far- don't worry baby - Just call my name, I'll be there in a hurry you don't have to worry cause baby there-".

Peter was slowly turning redder and redder as he laughed uncontrollably. Several of the unaffected Slytherins staring at their companions oddly. Sirius suddenly lifted a finger to point at where Snape had stood on his seat and was bellowing out at the top of his lungs, "MACHO MACHO MAN! I WANNA BE A MACHO MAN! HEY HEY HEY HEY". 

This was the last straw for the four Gryffindors who finally lost the plot. Rolling around on the floor with tears streaming down their faces as the Slytherins' voices filled the hall.

Finally only one voice was left singing, the Head Boy no less. He was very flustered as he tried to stop the charm as he sung his lungs out to Queen. "I want to ride my bicycle! I want to ride my bikkkkke! I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bikkkkkkke! BICYCLE! BICYCLE! BICYCLE! BICYCLE!".

Sirius was thumping the ground with his hands he was laughing so hard. And even when the Head Boy, looking very pink sat down a surly look on his face, Sirius and James were still laughing. Remus and Peter seemed to have managed some control and were once more in their seats, trying to hide the smug expressions on their faces. 

As James and Sirius clambered into their seats Dumbledore rose to his feet. "It seems that our Live Entertainment has become a common affair. I didn't believe anyone would so readily follow in Mister Blacks footsteps" he eyed the Slytherins with amusement as they cast surly looks at the rest of the hall.

"Indeed, I would like to thank the Slytherin table for a most interesting breakfast entertainment. Although, perhaps you should try having turns next time...". Sirius allowed himself to dissolve into more snickering and James beamed at him, "your brilliant Siri..you know that right?".

Sirius polished his nails on his robes, "oh I know. Of course, Remy here deserves just as much credit as me" Sirius added as an afterthought and James turned on Remus blinking. "Geeze, you really do have a brilliant mind behind that blank look" he commented and Remus pouted.

"I do not have a blank look" he retorted and James snickered, "you did just then" he countered and Remus managed a very convincing offended expression. It wore off however as he was elbowed rudely in the back of the head, he looked up to see a very sour Lucious Malfoy staring down at him.

"I know you lot had something to do with...that" he growled and Remus raised an eyebrow pleasantly. "You mean your kareoke session Malfoy? I thought it must have been a Slytherin bonding session...I really didn't think you were an Abba person Malfoy...I guess everyones got skeletons in their closets.." Sirius and James dissolved into laughter as Remus feigned an innocent look. Lucious growled as his eyes swept over the four of them before resorting to the most likely of the lot, Sirius, James and Remus.

"You better watch yourself, i'm sure people would be very interested in finding out who is responsible for that little episode". "I'll be sure to let you know when I find out then" Sirius commented cheerfully before grinning as James innocently offered his fork to the Slytherin, "bacon Malfoy?".

Lucious turned sharply on his heel his eyes narrowed and stalked away. Sirius dissolved into laughter as he left and turned to Remus, "Slytherin bonding session?" he choked out before looking at James, "bacon? You guys crack me up!".

Remus and James exchanged puzzled looks as Sirius hooted with laughter. "I-i can't believe we got the Head Boy!" he roared and several nearby Gryffindors eyed the four incredulously. A group of Gryffindor first year girls turned toward them, Lily amongst them. There were five Gryffindor first year girls this year. And they seemed to get along pretty well. 

There were two pure-bloods amongst them, Sally Mcgregor being one of them. She was an average girl in height and weight, with unusual thick and long platinum silver hair which she braided into two plaits. Each tied with black velvet ribbon. A scatter of freckles lay across her nose, prominent against her pale skin.

The second, Veronica Bones was by far the prettiest of the lot, and she knew it to. She was tall and slim with long silky black hair held back by a thick white headband. Her skin was a deep tan and she had pretty burt sienna eyes that would glitter when she laughed. The third of the group was a muggle born by the name of Alexia Jones. She was a real tomboy, rarely seen without her baseball cap, her hair was shorn off at her chin and was a plain dark brown. She had cinnamon coloured eyes and was slightly short for her age, although, as she boasted often, was very good at sports.

The fourth girl was half and half. Jamie Baker was an overly tall girl, with long oddly deep green hair that reached to her mid-back. Blue eyes were framed by large glasses. Unlike the other girls she was more likely to be found in the Library studying then running around like Alexia. The last of the group was the red-haired green eyed Lily Evans. She was a muggleborn, they had discovered and like Jamie was incredibally smart.

She was obviously very excited about being at Hogwarts but now the girls were eyeing the four Gryffindors with frowns. "What did you do to them?" Sally demanded shoving the others further down the row so she could interrogate the boys. Sirius shrugged non-commitedly, "do what to who?" he replied nochalantly.

James who had turned slightly pink suddenly became very interested in shifting the contaminated food around on his plate. "Don't play dumb with me" Sally retorted leaning over the table to glare at him. Lily rolled her eyes, "leave him alone Sally" she murmured timidly and Sally pulled a face. "No! I want to know", Veronica pulled a face behind Sallys back. "Who cares what they did? It was hilarious" Alexia spoke up and Sally turned her head, her plaits whipping around.

"What if they'd gotten the spell wrong" Jamie spoke up quietly. Alexia rolled her eyes, "but they didn't did they?". James shoved Remus pointedly in the arm, "look at the time!" Sirius cried feigning looking at a watch that wasn't really there. "We should be going, right Jim? That's what I thought, let's go then shall we? Come on Pete..Come on Remy". 

The four made a hasty departure leaving the girls to squabble amongst themselves. Lily cringed and turned on them with a huffy sigh, "you made them leave!" she accused and the girls shot looks at her. "Who cares" Alexia muttered and Veronica gave a pompuous roll of her eyes, "do you have to say that what? Once a minute or something. And for one I do! And Lily obviously does..Sirius is really cute".

Lily blinked and looked up to glimpse a touselhaired boy leaving and let out a sigh. Falling back into the squabbling of who was cuter of the boys.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned against the corridor wall, "geeze! Who needs girls eh? 'specially that Sally bird. She's a nasty piece of work isn't she" Remus snorted loudly with laughter. "Oh come one Siri, you got along just fine with the girls on the train. And not all of them are like that..I think.." Remus did some rather unsure on this however and James nodded his agreement to Remus' statement.

"Not all of them..." he mumbled and Peter gave a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad to be away from them all, that Alexia girl scares me..", Sirius snickered loudly. "She is one scary girl i'll admit Pete my lad. What's say our next little piece of genious goes to the scary ladies of first year Gryffindor?". James turned extra pink before nodding, Remus looked a little doubtful. "I don't know Siri...it isn't wise to anger girls...specially ones like Sally and Alexia..".

Peter nodded his head hurriedly in agreement with Remus. "Why don't we stick to Slytherins for a while.." Peter suggested and Sirius wrinkled his nose in thought. "Well....I suppose we could make do. After all, i'll never get tired of seeing Snapes face looking like it's going to pop..".

The group snickered before Remus blinked, "oh wait..we didn't get our time tables" he muttered. The group looked fearfully from one to the other, "why don't we all go...you know...Moral Support and all that" James said nervously and they nodded solemnly back. Slowly they trudged back into the hall, toward the table they saw the girls were still bickering amongst each other. "Hi again" Lily said brightly bringing an end to the other girls fighting.

"Er..um...timetables...we came....timetables" James mumbled sheepishly and Sirius groaned and barely hid his face. "What James meant to say is that we forgot to get our timetables" Remus translated and the girls blinked slightly. "Oh..". Even the dubbed 'constant-babbler' Sally couldn't think of anything to say. "The timetables are down there" Jamie said in her own quiet fashion before returning to her breakfast. 

"Er...thanks" Peter mumbled as they strode toward the stack of papers. Sirius paused slightly on their way back past, "oh..and Lils?" the redhead looked up in surprise as Sirius winked at her. "Take good care of my banana!", she dissolved into giggles as the four boys left the great hall.

As soon as they'd left the four girls turned on Lily. "What was that about?" Veronica demanded of the helplessly giggling Lily.

*****

Remus allowed a large groan to escape his lips as he stared at the timetable with a sigh. Transfiguration, their first class was transfiguration. The subject he had already doomed to be his worst, on the exception of possibly Potions.

Sirius beside him let out a loud sigh and draped his arm over Remus' shoulders. "Well Remy, it can't be to bad right?" he supplied glumly and James pulled a face at the pair, "I think it looks cool" he said sniffily as they waited outside the classroom. Two Ravenclaw girls, one to Sirius' amusement being Kerry from the train, were waiting as well. 

"Well you would James. You have issues" Peter muttered and recieved a stare from the bespectacled boy. "My gosh, is my hearing decieving me or has Petey got a backbone?" Sirius commented and recieved a glare from the slight boy. "Ouch Siri...If looks could kill.." James commented and Peter stuck his tongue out.

"Oh how juvenile" Remus said regally, lifting his head with the air of royalty. James pulled a face at him, "oh and like you aren't" he groaned. The group of Gryffindor girls showed up and Peter shrunk away as though they were poison, James once more turned a most interesting shade of pink and Remus and Sirius wisely backed toward the wall.

As it was the girls made a beeline straight for their group. "So Sirius" Veronica spoke up, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, "Lils was telling us about the trainride". She raised an eyebrow suggestively, "did you really strip in front of them?". Sirius turned slightly pink and Remus began to snicker quietly into his hand, Sirius eyed him with a look that clearly cried, 'why me?'.

"So to say he didn't strip..." Remus covered for the darkhaired boy who sent him a thankful grin. "Yeah, just took my shirt off" Sirius announced carelessly leaning against the wall. James raised an eyebrow at his friend and decided to try and play it cool as well, leaning back against the wall beside his friend he found Peter quickly followed suit until Remus was the only one left standing near the girls.

He eyed them all hatefully as Jamie rolled her eyes and walked over to the pair of Ravenclaw girls. Lily broke the eery silence by saying, "that was a cool spell you used yesterday on the train. The one against Snape, what was that?" Remus ran his fingers through his hair that had flung itself into the path of his eyes.

"Disarming Spell" he commented off-hand and Sally tittered. "That's a duelling spell isn't it? Where'd you learn it" Remus merely shrugged again and slipped over to the wall as inconspicuously as he could.

The girls, obviously annoyed at not getting real answers drifted away leaving Lily to stand by herself with them. She glanced to either side of her making sure they were out of earshot before sighing loudly, "Sorry about that". "Aah! So she is normal. Just as I suspected" Sirius cried outlandishly. She smiled weakly, "they're just abit..overwhelming" she murmured and Peter snorted, "you got that right" he muttered and Lily giggled quietly.

James seemed to be having trouble forming words again because every time he opened his mouth, he would pause before closing it again. Sirius later commented that he looked like a goldfish. A group of Ravenclaw first year boys showed up, eyeing the four Gryffindors thoughtfully before talking to the girls that had deserted Lily.

"So do you have a last name Lily?" Sirius asked calmly and her cheeks coloured slightly, "oh! I totally forgot. My name's Lily Evans", Sirius smiled. "I'm Sirius Black, this is Remus Lupin, the little guy is Peter Pettigrew and the boy with his mouth flapping is James Potter". James took that opportunity to punch Sirius hard in the shoulder, "my mouth was not flapping!" he objected and Sirius snickered, "sure Jim" he retorted.

James seemed to regain the use of his tongue after that, as though to prove to Sirius that indeed his mouth had not been flapping. "You may come in", Remus gave a small doomed sigh before trudging into the Transfiguration Classroom for his first ever class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	6. Charms, Potions and Monthly Dissapearanc...

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Five: Charms, Potions and Monthly Dissapearances.

*****

The next two months at Hogwarts passed by uneventfully, in the loosest sense of the word. In normal standards, the two months of the first year Gryffindors were extra-ordinarily eventful. With four certain boys pulling an unfathomable amount of original pranks the likes of which Hogwarts had never seen before.

The result of one of these pranks being why three of four of the boys were scrubbing vigorously at the floor of the Transfiguration Classroom. "How on earth did Remy get out of this?" Peter grumbled as he stretched his aching hands out to glance toward the other bent figures. 

James gave a loud groan, "I don't bloody know. He had to go and visit that sick aunt of his again I think, you know, the one he went and saw last month". Sirius nodded indiscretely, "yeah. Mcgonagall said that he didn't have to do the detention. I'm telling you, I am going to find out how he manages to wrap people around his little finger" Peter nodded.

It hadn't escaped their attention that Remus was uncommonly good at getting out of detention. Which on several occasions had proved brilliant for the rest of them, as he had used his natural charm to get them out of detentions several times.

Sirius sighed as he wiped hair off of his face, "we so have to get Mcgonagall back for this" he grumbled glaring at the bucket of water. James grinned, "it was worth the look on her face though...when she saw those flowers sprouting out of her head...". Sirius beamed back, "yeah Jim. You did a good job on the daisies...I honestly thought she was going to do her nut..." Peter nodded his head in agreement.

"She looked like this bull we have on my aunties farm.." he murmured and Sirius snickered appreciatively. "Well she did give us that extra-long essay" he commented, and James smirked. "She deserved it the batty cow...Remy was right about Transfiguration..terrible stuff."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Remy has a reason to hate it Jim my lad. You however are the best in the class, you just like pulling pranks". It was true, in the last few weeks especially Sirius and James had caught the pranking bug. Already they were on their way toward the records for the number of detentions recieved by a first year at Hogwarts. Remus was quite happy to prank along with them and quite often enough a good deal of their best pranks had came from him, Peter however was never much of an individualist and went along with his friends. Enjoying it none the less.

Sirius spluttered as something splattered across his face. He turned his eyes on Peter who was looking sheepish, "I didnt mean to.." he began but was met with a splattering of foam and dirty water. Sirius had thrown his bucket full of water at Peter.

James began laughing like crazy at Peter turned on him and threw half of his bucket over him. His hair for once sat down flat on his head and water dripped through his collar. "What the hell was that for!" James retorted picking up his own bucket, lifting a sponge from it he threw it with a splat right in Peters soaked face before emptying the contents of the bucket over Sirius' head.

Sirius choked as the disgusting water splashed down his front and cascaded in a waterfall from his nose. "That's it Jim!" he roared diving on the bespectacled boy and grabbing a soapy sponge from his own empty bucket, he proceeded to squeeze the foam all over James while Peter secretly poured more water into his bucket from his wand.

Always the oppurtunist Peter decided to kill two birds with one stone and emptied the freezing contents of his bucket over the pair of struggling boys. Both stopped their squabbling to turn their eyes on the proudly smiling smallest of the trio, both withdrew their wands and spurted jets of freezing cold water at the boy. He yelped and began to run, his shoes however skidded on the wet floor and he landed with a wet thwack upon the ground.

Sirius' eyes widened as he stared down at his friend, his eyes earning a misty glaze that was a certain sign that he'd had a deliciously good idea. James getting the point grinned excitedly, "what's the idea Siri? It better be good..".

Sirius beamed gleefully, "oh it will be. Peter skidding just now reminded me..remember that spell Remy did back on the train?" he said quickly, his voice rising a pitch with excitement. James blinked, "you mean the one that had the Slytherins sliding all over the place like figure-skaters?" he asked and Sirius nodded.

"What about it?" James asked suspiciously. Sirius gestured toward the floor, "let's use it in here. Mcgonagall will bring her class in here first thing tommorrow and whoosh!" Sirius snickered appreciatively as a vision of Mcgonagall sliding like crazy across the room and assing up crossed his mind.

"Brilliant Siri" Peter mumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, his hair dripping water all over the floor around him. James nodded enthusiastically, his own hair was plastered to his forehead clinging to his glasses. Sirius tapped his chin with thought, "now what spell did Remy use...." he muttered.

Peter suddenly began to usher them toward the door, pulling out his wand he cast an excited, bout of jibberish at the floor and a silver substance shot from his wand. It spread quickly over the ground covering every surface of the room, from the desks to the cieling.

James and Sirius stared at their small friend with comically confused expressions. "What? Remus was helping me study.." he mumbled and the pair shook their heads. The silver substance had spread dramatically and had become translucent, the only difference it had made to the room was an eery sheen.

James suddenly began to act very strangely, hopping from one foot to the other and laughing with glee. Peter began to back away, frightened that his friend had suddenly lost any traces of sanity he had once possessed. Pointing his wand toward one of the buckets that now lay several meters away in the center of the room, a duplicate appeared several seconds later at the boys feet. Still laughing madly he pointed his wand at the bucket, foamy, unmistakeably dirty water began to pour into it.

Grinning evilly he ceased the jet of water and carefully levitated it over the door, activating the door as it's trigger. 

He carefully shut it before turning back to his friends. "Ready for another hard night of detention tommorrow good chaps?" he asked cheerfully and the pair nodded grinning. With that done the three began their trek back to Gryffindor table, leaving a dripping watery trail behind them.

*****

Sirius bent smirking over his parchment, doodling lightly with his quill as he waited for the certain blow. Flitwick was pacing back and forth, goodnaturedly prattling about another useless charm, James however had chosen to take notes. James was the sort who would never throw anything away in case it became handy further along the line, so he had charmed his quill into taking notes for him while he leant lazily back in his chair.

Peter was attempting to balance his quill on his nose, Sirius, having given up on his doodling was now contemplating the whereabouts of the fourth member of their group. Remus still hadn't returned from wherever it was that he'd gone. Last month he had been gone three days after he had left.

It was strange, but for some reason Sirius didn't believe in Remus' sick auntie. For one thing, whenever Remus returned from 'visiting' he looked as though he'd been the one who was sick. Pale and tired, for another, it didn't make sense that Remus would take time off of school just to visit a sick relative.

It wasn't as if she was immediate family if she was an auntie and with discussions on family Remus had never seem all that thrilled to talk about his own. Sirius' musings were cut off abruptly however as the door flew open and a livid Professor Minerva McGonagall stood in the doorway.

She screeched loudly, her voice quivering with rage, "BLACK! POTTER! PETTIGREW! OUTSIDE NOW!". Sirius grinned, he had been waiting for this all morning. Standing calmly he strolled casually toward the door, joining James and Peter as they stepped outside, leaving a confused class and Professor. To James' amusement she was dripping with soapy water.

"You three have detention for the rest of the month" she growled angrily and Peter recoiled slightly. "Whatever for Professor?" Sirius egged her on, smiling a puzzled expression he'd borrowed from Remus. James nodded, "I think it highly unfair you give us detention without any actual proof that we've done something.." he commented and she turned shrewd eyes on him. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut Potter, you're in enough trouble as it is".

"What for?" Sirius repeated pleasantly and she replied snappishly, "for rigging my classroom. Miss Collin's nearly broke her collarbone thanks to you three. Sirius winced slightly, "rig your classroom Professor? I would never dream of such a thing.." he persisted. She growled in frustration, "if I find out it was you Black you better be ready for spending the rest of your evenings in this school in detention".

"Of course Professor" he replied sweetly and she turned ill-temperedly and hurried back towards her class to pick up the pieces. Sirius turned to his friends with a smile, "I guess Remy's charm is rubbing off on me aye?" James nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah...I wonder where he is anyway", Peter shrugged. "We should probably go back in" he said slowly before returning to the rest of the class who were eyeing them curiously.

"Aah, so good of you to rejoin us Gentlemen" Flitwick chirped and they grinned, sliding back into their seats. "Sorry Prof, Minerva wanted to chat" Sirius replied cheerfully. James raised an eyebrow at his friend, "if she heard you say that Siri your head would be on a platter" he muttered as the class got back to business.

"Good thing she didn't then" Sirius retorted before leaning back on his chair, trying to ignore Sally's loud whisperings of what she thought they had done to make Mcgonagall so mad. In fact tonight was one of the very few nights they'd had lately that wouldn't be spent in detention, hoping Remus would be back soon he gave a bored moan.

Things just weren't the same when there was only three instead four.

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon in a nasty double potions lesson. Taught by one of the nastiest teachers they hoped to ever meet in their lives, Professor Luff was a cold sullen man. All but obsessed with the subject he taught, it had been rumored around the school that he had poisoned his wife to death before he'd begun teaching here after an argument.

But he was a master of what he did. That was certain, he was one of the most acknowledged Potion brewers that this era had to offer. He didn't seem to like any of the students at all, in fact it seemed his mission in life was to have as many students expelled as possible. He had dull grey hair and cold black eyes, the only student he was remotely civil to was Severus Snape, who he seemed to like for some unknown reason.

They had to hand it to Snape, as much as the Gryffindors didn't want to. He had immense skill when it came to Potions, which was why the Gryffindors proved so dismal in Potions. The other reason that the Gryffindors hated Potions so much went down to the fact that they were forced into such a gloomy place with none other then the Slytherins.

Sirius stared boredly at the Potion that was bubbling rather dully in his cauldron. Across the dungeons Snape, Malfoy and Co hadn't failed to notice one among the four was missing. "Wheres your little saviour Black?" Malfoy drawled as he passed them on the way back towards the sinks to wash his hands.

"None of your business" Sirius replied tightly as he carelessly tipped dandelion roots into his potion and watched it hiss and bubble magnificently. Peter leant over to eye Sirius' potion helplessly, the poor boy had been stuck working with the 'very-scary' Alexia. Now Peter wasn't exactly an expert on Potions, but he could usually hold himself pretty well.

But working with Alexia was a fire hazard waiting to happen. Put the girl in a room with a few garden herbs and a lettuce leaf and she could make a ticking time bomb. More then several times she'd blown up her cauldron and a good percentage of her earlier concoctions still stained the roof.

James gave him a pitying smile as Alexia began to pour an unknown substance into the potion, he ducked under the table pulling Sirius with him giving a loud countdown of, "THREE, TWO ONE!".

Sure enough right on cue the cauldron exploded, splattering the cieling which began to sizzle, something of an acid quality to this particular potion. Luff gave an angry disgusted yell and turned on Peter and Alexia. "You stupid idiot of a girl! What does it take to get it through your thick head! I told you not to add the Llama Bile until the cauldron was off the fire! Pettigrew, why didn't you stop her. Or were you to busy talking to your idiot friends. Thirty points from Gryffindor...and detention".

Peter groaned and Sirius gave a small smile as he slid out from under the table, the Slytherins were snickering loudly as Alexia gave a near tearful gaze over the damage before leaning down to begin to clean it up. At least Sirius and James didn't have a detention filled night ahead of them.

James slid around the bench and began to help them clean up, leaving Sirius to keep an eye on their own potion, it wouldn't do to give Luff a chance to insult them infront of the Slytherins. Snape especially seemed to get a good kick out of seeing Alexia's cauldron blow up, it only gave him and Malfoy evidence to suffice their twisted idea that Mudbloods couldn't cut it.

Sirius pursed his lips and had drawn his wand before he knew what he was doing. Discretely muttering beneath his breath he set a dungbomb off before rolling it across the dungeon floor. Where Snapes group had been laughing before, they were now coughing violently before scattering stools trying to get away from the terrible smell.

Sirius gave a small satisfied smile as the Slytherins potion suddenly exploded. He did listen in class when he found it necessary, and lucky for him he had been listening when Luff had told them this particular potion was distinctly sensitive to putrid smells. He hid his smile as Luff suddenly erupted much alike Mount Vesuvius.

His eyes blazing as he roared at the entire class, "who ever threw that dungbomb is in serious trouble. Do you understand? If I ever find out who did it I will personally see to having them expelled from this school". At this Luff turned his head to slowly meet Sirius' eyes. Sirius stared back cooly while Snape scowled at him.

"Now clean up that bloody mess the lot of you" he barked at the Slytherins. Snape startled at being yelled at began to help the others clean up, disdain written all over his face as James stood from where he'd helped Alexia and Peter and returned to his own seat, giving a loud relieved sigh he leaned over to mutter in Sirius' ear, "that was bloody risky Siri. You know Luff isn't kidding.." Sirius shrugged and carefully doused the fire beneath their cauldron before pouring their Llama Bile into the potion.

"I don't care Jim, I'm sick of Snape's smug little looks. It's about time he got a taste of his own medicine" James sighed and shook his head. "Alright Siri, I'm just warning you. I've heard Snape can turn nasty alright, he's got one hell of a temper on him. Just keep your eyes open" Sirius shrugged.

"They're always making fun of us you know Jim. You know, going on about how Lily and Alexia are Muggleborn. I may not be best friends with them or anything but they're still Gryffindors". Sirius shrugged before gathering up his books and carefully pouring the finished potion into several bottles that James held out for him.

"Alright Siri, I know already. Just be careful" James shuddered unvolunteerily, "god I sound like my Mum" he grunted and Sirius snickered, "exactly my thoughts Jim my boy" he commented as they corked the potion and labelled it with their names.

They cleared up their table calmly before retreating to wash their hands. When they returned Luff was inspecting their bottles shrewdly, when James and Sirius sat again he carefully picked the bottles up and walked off. James grinned at Sirius as he pointed out Snape who was scowling in their direction, looking very sour indeed. 

"Look at him, he looks as though he wants to tip that potion down our throats" James muttered with a snicker. Sirius nodded in agreement, Peter who had finished cleaning up the mess his and Alexia's potion had made turned to them, "god am I hungry" he groaned and Sirius beamed, "your souding a bit like Remus there Pete" he commented and Peter pulled a face.

"There's something about Luff bellowing in your face that makes you incredibally hungry" Peter muttered and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "We'll have to look into that theory Pete, but for now, it's time to go" he beamed as the bell echoed his words and picked up his bag.

The three of them left the dungeons with the five girls on their tails. The Slytherins who had been closer to the door had been several meters ahead. They were brought to an abrupt halt as they found Malfoy and Snape backed by Rosier, Lestrange, Avery and a group of nastily tittering Slytherin girls blocking their path forward.

"I know it was you who threw that dung bomb" Malfoy snapped and Snape nodded, "I'll be betting Potter had something to do with it too" Snape hissed in disgust. For some reason he held an extra grudge on James above the others, perhaps it was due to their first flying lesson when James had wowed the crowd with pure natural talent while Snape hadn't be able to lift off the ground, whatever it was it left the boy with a sour twist to his mouth.

"And what if I did?" James asked casually, much to aware of the five girls that had paused behind them, wondering what the hold up was. Sirius casually swept a hand through his hair and raised an eyebrow as Snape spat out again, "you better watch yourself Potter. People like you eventually meet their own sticky ends". Sirius tensed, throwing petty insults was one thing, but threatening his friends was a whole new level.

"You touch James and I'll rip your throat out you slimy git" he growled advancing forwards. He was surprised to see Peter grabbing his arm and struggling to hold him back. "What's the matter Black...how sweet...sticking up for your boyfriend" Malfoy sneered and this time Peter was thrown back as Sirius pounced on the Slytherin. 

The Slytherin girls squealed and jumped back as Malfoy crashed into the ground, Sirius punching furiously. He was brought to a halt however as something pointy pressed into the nape of his neck, "Lupins not here to save you now Black" Snape whispered silkily and Sirius shuddered angrily.

Slowly he stood, Malfoy standing brushed his robes off before drawing his own wand. James readily drew his own wand to meet the challenge, Peter somewhat less enthusiastically doing the same. Veronica managed to push her was past James and Peter and gave a pompuous snort. Striding forward Snape didn't seem to know what to think, she snatched Snapes wand away from Sirius with disgust.

"You filthy little git, only a coward would pull a wand on someones back" she snapped looking thoroughly disgusted. With that she threw the wand haughtily back at Snape and with a flick of her hair she pushed her way through the Slytherins and stalked away down the corridor.

The other Gryffindor girls stared after their friend before hurrying to catch up with her, following her path through the bewildered Slytherins. "Ronnie wait up!" Lily yelled as they ran after their friend. Sirius watched the girls out of sight before turning back toward Snape.

The Slytherins, seeming to have lost their pluck sauntered away toward their own commonroom leaving Sirius, James and Peter. The three gryffindors slowly began their trek back to the Gryffindor tower. Sirius occasionally rubbing the back of his neck oddly, "thought he was gonna hex me for sure that time" he commented lightly and James shrugged.

"Yeah, if Veronica hadn't thrown that hissy fit then you'd probably be sprouting leeks from your ears or something" he commented lightly, Peter was very quiet as he followed them through the portrait hole. The girls were clustered about a couch talking quietly amongst themselves and didn't even look up as the three past them on their way to the boys dormitories.

They trekked inside and were met with a pleasant surprise in the form of Remus. The boy was tiredly unpacking a bag back into his trunk, Sirius let out a laugh as he dove at the boy, both landing sprawled on the floor several feet away. Sirius almost immediately regretted it, Remus was definitely looking worse for wear, he was grey with exhaustion and the dark bags beneath his eyes had returned.

A large plaster was stuck firmly over one cheek and Sirius blinked in surprise unable to move he merely choked out, "you look terrible!". Remus groaned as he sat up, "thanks" he replied dryly and Sirius rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean" he muttered as he pulled the boy to his feet. James stared at the boy as he walked over and forced him to sit. "What happened to you?" he asked bluntly, thinking he could see bruising beneath the collar of the boys robes.

"Nothing" Remus replied quickly tugging at his collar. "Who's up for Dinner...I'm absolutely starved" he continued easily changing the subject as he stood. James turned his eyes on Sirius who in turn looked at Peter, "yeah, I'm hungry as well" James replied. "Pete was just saying how hungry he was, he just got another detention from Luff. You just missed the funniest Potions lesson Remy" he added, eyeing Sirius with a look that stated 'drop it' before he slid an arm around his friends shoulders.

"So how is your aunt?" Sirius piped up and Remus blinked, "What?" he choked before realising what the boy had meant. "Oh! you mean that aunt..she's fine" he hurriedly covered as they trundled downstairs. "Oh..I thought it must've been pretty serious if you had to miss three days of school for it thats all" Sirius added innocently.

James sent him a silencing glare which plainly meant, 'later'. Peter gave a sigh, "I can't believe I have another detention tonight! When am I supposed to do al that homework they loaded me with? It's not my fault Alexia can't walk into that classroom without blowing up something" Peter groaned and Sirius shrugged. Remus chuckled quietly, "some people just aren't born potion brewers. Like me for example".

For the first time since he'd gotten back Remus looked slightly less tense, he gave a small smile and Peter shrugged. "You aren't that bad, besides..your defense makes up for Potions. Me however...I'm rubbish at everything", James rolled his eyes, "No you aren't Petey you just haven't found your subject yet. Your good at Herbology..remember that vine, the one that had me an' Siri hanging from the cieling?".

Peter began to laugh loudly at this memory and even Remus began to chuckle quietly, more from the surly look that Sirius had just achieved. "Don't look like that Siri, the wind'll change and you'll be stuck that way like Snape" James crowed cheerfully and Sirius pulled a face. At the mention of Snape the girls glanced up and looked at the four oncoming boys who were heading for the portrait hole.

"Ha ha James. Very funny" Sirius snapped, "I'll admit Jim, that was rather uncalled for. Being vaguely like Snape is an insult to anybodys name.." Remus spoke up and James nodded humbly, "sorry Siri. I see the error in my ways" Sirius nodded his acceptance before turning as Lily called out to them.

She was panting as she caught up and flashed a small smile at them as she caught her breath. "Sorry" she mumbled as she panted, "I just wanted to see if your alright. I mean Snape didn't curse you did he?" she asked anxiously, although she was looking directly at James rather then Sirius as she asked this. A point that didn't go unnoticed by Sirius or Remus for that matter.

Peter was to busy looking over Lily's shoulder with dread as the other girls advanced on them. "Yeah I'm fine" Sirius replied casually before grinning wickedly, "and James is fine to, so theres no need to keep checking him over...unless that was your full intention of this visit rather then to question my health".

Lily turned a brilliant shade of pink and muttered indiscretely, "I was not checking him over! I was just making sure that those Slytherins didn't curse you" she replied hotly and turned on her heel sending her red locks flying and stalked back toward her friends. Sirius grinned widely, "looks like you've got yourself an admirer Jim" he chortled and James turned pink.

"I do not" he retorted and Sirius took up the challenge with a standard, "You do too". "Do not". "Do too". "Do not". "Do too". "Do not". "Too". "Not". "Too". "Not not not not not not not not not". "Too too tooo tooo too too too too too too".

"What's this about a tutu?" came a blank question from another of their dormmates, Jason Whittleby. "Malfoy enjoys wearing Tutu's" Remus replied without batting an eye causing James and Sirius to stop in their war of 'nots' and 'too's' and stare at him. Meanwhile their dormmate had taken off to spread this revelation to the rest of Gryffindor house. 

Peter was snickering quietly while Sirius suddenly ceazed Remus in a hug. "Bless your quick mind!" he cried loudly attracting the attention of a couple of Hufflepuff second years. 

James grinned widely and thumped Remus on the back, "let's go see how fast the grape vine takes shall we?" he commented and the four of them proceeded to the Great Hall. They found that already the entire Hufflepuff table was buzzing with it and a nosy fourth year girl by the name of Bertha Jorkins had heard the latest gossip and was spreading it as fast as the plague.

The four Gryffindors sat down and James began to inform Remus of all the exciting things that happened in the last three days, including the master-piece that had been Mcgonagalls classroom. He was smiling rather sadly by the end of it, "wish I could've been here" he said quietly as he began to load his plate and Sirius nodded. "Can't help sick relatives though can you?" Peter said quietly as he began to eat his mashed potatoes as quick as he could.

"No.." Remus replied almost wistfully before proceeding to stuff himself with food. Another thing the group had noticed about whenever Remus returned was that he literally ate until he was bursting, he always ate alot, which was a mystery in itself. But where he managed to fit so much food in nobody had a clue.

"Well Remy, I solemnly swear we will get up to no good" Sirius replied solemnly, closing a hand over his heart. Remus laughed and lifted his head, swallowing his mouthful he smiled, "thanks Siri" he replied before tucking in.

James suddenly choked loudly and the three others looked at him in surprise, "whatsa matter Jim?" Sirius asked as Peter pounded the boy on the back. "I-I just remembered guys. My Birthdays in a week! A week! M'dad hinted he was getting me something really good this year". James' eyes went misty as possibilities began to run through his mind, the other three exchanged glances and Sirius smacked his head against the table.

"How could I have forgotten!" he moaned and James eyed him incredulously. "YOU FORGOT!" he roared in mock anger, Sirius let out a pathetic wail and Remus couldn't help the smile that past over his lips as he began to dollop more food onto his now clean plate.

"Slow down Remus or you'll choke" Peter advised the boy, watching mesmerised by the amount of food that was passing through his friends mouth. "Can't talk...eating" he mumbled through a mouthful.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "you're a strange boy Remus Lupin" he said with a roll of his eyes before tucking into his own food. "Stranger then you'll ever know" Remus added mentally with a small tired sigh as he satisfied the hunger of a dormant wolf.


	7. Innocent Journey

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Six: Innocent Journey

*****

Sirius brightened as he was a familiar colour amongst the many flapping grey and brown wings that swooped down over the tables, delivering their usual early morning mail to the students of Hogwarts. Sure enough the deep red owl swooped down, dropping a letter on top of his eggs before pinching a piece of toast.

The owl was his fathers that he'd had since he had attended Hogwarts. It seemed his father had also had a few brilliant ideas or two in his younger years and decided to make his owl more exciting by charming his plumage to the brilliant Gryffindor Red. Unfortunately this had proved to be rather embarassing when he realised the spell he'd used was a permanent one.

Sirius tore at the letter excitedly, stroking the owl absently on the head as he ripped open the seal. This was the first reply since he'd sent his letter home saying he planned to stay for Christmas, he unfolded the parchment and his fathers rough scrawl spelled out.

Dear Sirius,  
It's probably best you stay at school for Christmas. I won't be home much for a while anyway, we still haven't caught the nutter who killed that family in Scotland. Moody isn't happy and neither are Frank or me for that matter. People have started to dissapear, it's absolute chaos at the ministry. Not to mention all the paperwork that's stacked up on me an' Franks desks. I only hope we catch him soon, at least before the Press get hold of the story.   
You sound like your having a blast. Have you looked at the paper I gave you before you left? Have a good Christmas Siri, your mum sends her love as well. Wish me luck on finding this psycho soon, I don't know why but i've got a bad feeling about this one Siri, be careful.   
Love,   
Your Dad XXX

Sirius stared at the parchment thoughtfully. If they hadn't caught whoever had murdered that family yet then something had to be wrong. Moody was one of the best in their field and it was highly unusual to have someone still at large when he was in charge. Frank Longbottom wasn't to shabby either, he was widely recognised as a highly capable Auror.

Milling over that he dug into his pocket, hoping he hadn't thrown the parchment away. Grinning as his fingertips brushed the wrinkled piece he slowly unrumpled it.

All that was written on the paper was a rough simple, 'behind the mirror, fourth floor'. Puzzling over this he found James eyeing him curiously, "what's up Siri?" he asked casually. Sirius nudged the parchment into James' hand.

James stared at it puzzled. "Behind the mirror, fourth floo-...what the hell is this?" Sirius clapped a hand over his friends mouth. Whispering in an undertone, "quieten down will you? My dad gave it to me before I left... I reckon we should Investigate".

James grinned, "yeah. Sounds like a plan Siri" he replied. Sirius nudged Peter in the arm while James jabbed Remus in the ribs. "C'mon I wanna show you something" Sirius hissed discretely.

The four stood and left the all, Peter and Remus eyeing Sirius questioningly. As they rounded a corridor James began to explain where they were going. Curiosity gleaming in all four boys eyes as they hastened their steps toward the fourth floor. Mounting three flights of stairs and searching five corridors before they stood, trembling with excitement before a large ornamental mirror.

Sirius grinned, "come on already! Help me move this thing!". The four boys began shoving heavily at the mirror. Grunting as the mirror refused to budge. "Maybe it's rusty" Sirius said desperately as they slumped with a dejected sigh to the ground against the wall. "Or maybe there's a catch or something" James mumbled.

'Oh, so you want to get into the passage behind me lads? Why on earth didn't you say so'. Remus literally jumped a foot in the air with surprise. The mirror gave a hearty chuckle, "come now. You can't tell me a mirrors never talked to you before" the mirror chided and clutched at his chest giving a sigh of relief. 

"Nah, you just startled me is all..." Remus began causing Sirius to grin widely. "Sure Remy..any more 'startled' and you'd've hit the roof" he chortled. Remus sent an evil glare at him and Sirius smiled smugly. "Well if you want to get into the passage just flip the switch of course". Sirius blinked, "what switch?" he asked with a frown.

"Over there...behind the painting of Albert the Amazing", James carefully wung the frame causing the sleeping Albert to awaken and begin yelling at the top of his lungs about 'young hooligans'. Sure enough a small switch, resembling a muggle light switch was hidden behind the painting.

James flipped it and the Mirror gave a cheerful, "have fun!" as it slid aside. An archway, large enough for a man to walk through stood in it's former place. "It's a secret passage!" James squeaked with awe. "But where does it lead to..." Remus murmured. Sirius beamed, "let's find out! It's only Herbology and Potions anyway..." the others nodded their agreement. 

Remus slightly reluctant before reasoning they could study extra-hard that night. The others merely smiled and nodded at their friend as he debated his thoughts aloud.

The sound of approaching footsteps sent them into a panic. The bell for first class had sounded almost five minutes ago, and from the sound of the heavy clunking it had to be Filch. James and Sirius had already had a very unpleasant meeting with Filch in their roamings of the school and didn't wish to repeat it.

"Who's up 'ere! Snotty little vagrants...trying to skip class like usual. Don't bother to hide I'll find you, We'll find you won't we my sweet?" a yeowl in answer confirmed the fear that the caretakers dreaded cat was with him as well.

"Inside!" Sirius hissed and the four of them struggled to squeeze through the archway all at the same time, as soon as they'd passed through Sirius whispered urgently, "close!". The mirror seemed to comply as the tunnel suddenly went very dark.

The four hiding students held their breaths, standing stock still as Filch drew nearer, his clunking boots drumming in their heads. "What if he knows about it?" Peter whispered, terror in his voice. James and Sirius' tale of Filch catching them had terrified the smallest member of their group, and his intense fear of the caretaker had definitely not subsided in time.

Remus clamped a hand over Peters mouth as the footfalls paused and heavy breathing sounded right outside the entrance to their hideaway. "Where are they my sweet? Can you smell them..." a rather puzzled yeowl was all the reply he got. "I'll find them" came the growl before the footsteps clunked away, Sirius let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and clutched the side of the passage with a groan. 

"To close" he mumbled. James echoed his sentiments, "way to close!". "Well..let's take a look then shall we?" Sirius asked and the others nodded, oblivious to the fact in the pitch black of the tunnel that Sirius couldn't see them. "Let's go" James hissed. Sirius lead the way down into the darkness, stumbling down a flight of stairs that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and continually got in their hair and faces. The ground was rough and unever and more then often one of them would trip and stumble. Causing a domino effect as they were travelling at such close proximity.

It was as Sirius slid on a wetpatch and fell back, toppling Remus into Peter that the boy got fed up. "For gods sake!" he hissed producing his wand from his pocket as he stood and hissing, "Lumos".

The passage brightened with dim light, shining from the tip of Remus' wand. It gave the boy an oddly haunted shadowed look. "Why didn't you do that in the first place!" James muttered huffily, he had been at the bottom of the pile one to many times.

"Well I didn't think of it" Remus replied while Sirius grinned. "Good idea Remy". He produced his own wand intent on learning the spell. "It's Lumos" Remus replied to Sirius' unspoken question. 

It only took one turn for Sirius to nail down the spell and soon the passage was twice as bright as they clambered along it. "Thanks Remy" he muttered as they pressed on. 

"This is taking an awfully long itme" Peter whispered grimacing as he failed to duck a bump in the cieling. It was true, they had been walking for near twenty minutes. Sirius suddenly yelped in pain as Remus crashed into the back of him. "Stop walking! Wherever we are we're there already!" he snapped. Holding his wand up to the wall in search of a handle.

"Try looking up Siri" James piped up, his unusually keen eyes having picked up a faint gleam of metal as Sirius' wand had lit the cieling. The trapdoor was revealed and Sirius grinned wildly, "alright!". "How do you turn this thing off Remy?" he questioned and Remus grinned slightly, "Nox" was the reply and Remus' own wand doused itself of light.

"Nox" Sirius repeated as he swung the trapdoor open and daylight burst through. He stretched toward the sides but frowned, "you'll have to boost me Remy..theres no ladder" he confirmed. 

Remus sighed and braced his hands. Sirius pressed one booted foot firmly into them, grasping the edge of the trapdoor with his fingers before launching upward. With a show of surprising strength from Remus and some struggling from Sirius the first of them was heaved up onto the ground.

"Coast is clear guys!" Sirius hissed. Peter stared doubtfully at Remus, doubting his ability to even hold the guy let along boost him up. As James was about to skip around to solve the problem Remus lightly sprung from the ground, gripping the sides of the trapdoor and wiggled his way up and out of sight.

Sirius and Remus leaned down into the hole to grasp one of Peters hands each as James hoisted him up. Finally James jumped and grasped each of Sirius' and Remus' hands, allowing himself to be heaved up through the hole in the ground. 

The four boys lifted their heads to finally get a good view of their surroundings. What appeared to be a style lay several feet ahead, the trapdoor appeared behind an ancient looking oak tree.

Staring past the style Sirius' eyes suddenly bulged, fixing on the small town beyond it. Realisation dawned on him and his mouth dropped open, begginning to stutter, "g-g-g-g-guys! I...think- I think we're in Hogsmeade!".

*****

Peters eyes widened in glee. "H-hogsmeade...as in...third years and over Hogsmeaded!" he whispered trembling with excitement. James' eyes seemed to glaze over and a goofy smile spread across his lips.

Remus couldn't help the wide grin that broke over his face, his eyes gleaming with possibility. Sirius began to hoot with excitement, "guys! Guys! Do you know the possibilities! Z-zonkos...the three broomsticks....HONEYDUKES! We-we can rule the damn school with this!".

James lifted a hand and deftly slapped his friend across the face without losing his dazed goofy expression. Sirius laughed good-naturedly, "thanks Jim m'lad. I needed that". Peter snapped out of his reverie and peered from Sirius to Remus, who seemed somewhat back to normal. 

James was still in his blissful daze. Giving a sigh as undoubtedly thought upon thought crosses his mind. Remus gave an amused raise of an eyebrow before grabbing the boys arm. "Where to first?" Peter squealed, his voice raising several pitches with obvious excitement.

"Zonkos!" Sirius crowed and James nodded fervently. "Zonkos" he grunted in a zombie like tone. "Perhaps we should take off our robes" Remus spoke up and James snapped out of his reverie to eye him scandalously, "look Remy I already told you that I don't swing that wa-".

Remus silenced him with a look. "I meant that if anyone from the school saw us, we'd be harder to recognise if we weren't wearing uniform". The three others looked at him. "But it's an all wizarding community remember, we'd stick out like a sore thumb wearing muggle clothes" Peter piped up. "Good point" Remus muttered.

James suddenly beamed, "i've got it!" James brandished his wand and Sirius began backing away. Only to many times had he had bad experiences with James' 'ideas'. "What're you doin' Jim?" he frowned suspiciously.

"Stand still!" James groaned, he swished his wand demonstratively over his own robes and they seemed to fade for several minutes before changing to a bright Gryffindor scarlet. "See no biggy" he grinned as Peter stepped forward reluctantly. Another swish of his wand had Peter decked out in a brilliant Canary yellow. "Hey! Why do I get Hufflepuff colours!" the slight boy growled indignantly. He was very proud to be a Gryffindor.

"Hey! I don't choose the colours Pete" James replied nochalantly with a shrug. Peter muttered conspiritively while eyeing James unpleasantly, he didn't quite believe what the boy had said.

Remus was next with a cool royal blue. "Ravenclaw?" he puzzled aloud. Sirius sighed and stepped forwards, squishing his eyes shut and allowed his friend to swish his wand at his robes. The charm fizzed before Sirius' robes seemed to slither nerve-wrackingly, they remained black but as they watched the material slowly smoothed into a shiny satin.

Remus eyed James in surprise while Sirius pulled a pose. James was hitting his wand with a frown, "bloody thing..I think it got damaged when Snape threw it into that Potion on Tuesday". Sirius didn't seem to care at all, in fact he seemed to enjoy the change in his attire drastically. "It's fine Jim, honest" Sirius consoled with a lopsided grin before glancing at Remus.

"C'mon! Zonkos!" he squealed childishly. Remus shrugged and followed, "by the way Remy, blue suits ya".

James suddenly snorted, "are you implying he looks better then we do!" the boy snapped and Sirius grinned conspiritively. "Well Jim...I wasn't going to say anything but...he does look a darn sight better then you do". Remus was slowly turning a magnificent shade of magneta while James pulled out a very impressive hurt expression.

"Siri! How could you...I thought you said I always look beautiful!" he weeped and Remus began to snicker inspite of himself. "Sorry Jimmy darling" Sirius said putting on a macho voice, "but I don't love you anymore...Instead i've bestowed my affections on Remy". With that Sirius slung himself around Remus while James made a huge show of weeping hysterically before falling into a faint over Peter.

The residents of Hogsmeade began to stare as the boys made a scene. Sirius draped over Remus while James was dragged along behind the tiny figure that was Peter. Peter groaned loudly, "James can you get off...you may not think it but you're bloody heavy". The bespectacled boy rose from his slump and began to weep hysterically again, "not you too Petey! You can't tell me your in love with Remus as well! Say it isn't so!".

Peter gave a bemused expression as Remus tried to detach himself from Sirius, glowing a brilliant magneta. "But Remy my darling! I love you!" Sirius wailed. "I'm sorry my dear, but I don't give a damn" Remus growled and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Oh you wound me so dear Remus!" he wailed again and James grinned as the boy detached himself from Remus who began to straighten his blue robes.

James yawned and ceased his act. Eyeing the crowd that had gathered with amusement, "enjoy the show?" Sirius called out giving a bow. A smatter of clapping came and James pretended to blush crying out girlishly, "oh stop!". 

They escaped into the mingling crowds as their own audience cleared and Remus rolled his eyes. "Honestly..we can't take you anywhere!" he said with a shake of his head, undoubtedly immitating his own parental figures.

Sirius hung his head, "sorry Mom" he replied impishly. Remus swatted at him and Sirius had to duck to avoid getting smacked in the head. Then James suddenly gave a gasp, "there it is! There's ZONKOS!" he roared before taking off at a run, the boy was surprisingly fast. The others took off after them, ready to stock up on all the Wizarding Jokes and supplies for Pranks they could possibly need...until the next time they decided to make a little trip to Hogsmeade.


	8. Anarchy In The UK

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Seven: Anarchy In The UK

*****

Sirius turned toward his friends with a grin. "In here" he hissed, the three puzzled faces stared back at him as he rapped sharply three times on a piece of wooden panelling. Without a word the panelling slid aside, leaving a slim gap in the wall which Sirius eagerly slid through. "I don't think even Filch knows about this place" he crowed excitedly as he clapped his hands and the panelling slid shut.

"I found it yesterday on my way back from Detention" he confirmed as he led them down a short narrow passageway. Remus glanced quizzically toward James who shrugged nochalantly. The four boys had gained a serious upperhand on the highest detention holders after they had returned from Hogsmeade several days ago, they're supply looked rather diminished and they planned to return to the town that weekend.

He stepped into a room at the end of the passage grinning around at his friends, "welcome to the HQ" he said with a sweeping bow. The room was small, two squashy sofas were pushed up against the vividly painted golden walls. An old desk sat in the middle of the room, a burnt out candle stub set on the corner.

A huge squashy armchair sat behind the desk. A portrait on a snoozing old wizard with an impressive ginger beard was tacked up on the wall. A thick layer of dust covered every surface and the wooden floor was grimy. "HQ?" Remus inquired with a raise of an eyebrow and casting a thoughtful look on Sirius. "Yeah! So we can work on our map and plan pranks in peace!". James groaned, "not that damn map again Siri.." he drawled and Sirius stuck out his tongue.

Peter seemed the most enthusiastic about having their own secret hide-out. "Wow...I bet Filch doesn't know about this...look how dusty it is. It's brilliant" he stammered and Sirius beamed with pride, "thanks Pete".

James shrugged, "I guess it'd be useful. I mean i'm sick of having those girls hanging over our shoulders while we're planning". Remus' face broke into a teasing grin, "more like you're sick of being distracted by a certain redhead". Sirius held out a hand and slapped Remus' in appreciation.

James growled before diving at Remus, luckily knocking him onto one of the couches, rather then the hard wooden floor. As the pair proceeded to wrestle Sirius stared in reverence around the room.

Ever since they had discovered the passage to Hogsmeade he had been intent on finding more. He had reasoned to the others that if there was one, there was bound to be more. So every day on the way to classes he had begun inspecting every statue, armour and suspicious looking paintings or walls.

Sometimes he would ask the paintings, a few of which had been more then happy to help. He had found this room after a series of Fourty three successful finds of secret passages and shortcuts through the school. Three in all had lead to Hogsmeade, including the one behind the mirror.

His intense searches had earned him and the others twentynine late-detentions in the last two weeks. He was nearing the total for previous first years already.

James had also begun to get distracted. Though not as they claimed by the redheaded Lily Evans, or by the scouring of the castle. His birthday was coming up this next Wednesday, he had been recieving cryptik messages from his Mother and Father implying he was getting a very expensive and very cool present.

His babbling was getting to the point that whichever was the closest would have to slap him before he'd stop. On more then one occasion one of the Gryffindor Girls had been more then happy to help out, Sally especially seemed to enjoy inflicting pain upon the darkhaired youth.

James and Remus' wrestling match came to an end with each sinking into an opposite corner of the sofa panting. James having to readjust his glasses while Remus pulled his robes straight. Sirius smiled brightly, "see, it's nice and private. No weird looks or suspicious girls lurking around trying to figure out what we're doing". Both the boys shot him weary looks while Peter had flopped down on the other sofa.

Sirius eagerly flopped down on the armchair. "First matter of business" he announcing in a formal pompuous voice. "We need a name for ourselves. For one, who has a headquarters when they don't even have a name? and two, so we aren't just known as 'those four gryffindors'. We have to stand out, leave a name for ourselves so they can put a name to our pranking legacy". Remus began to applaud politely, "how long were you thinking that speech up Siri?" he asked cheerfully.

"Came up with it last night" Sirius replied grinning. James beamed, "good idea Siri. It wouldn't do for people to remember us as four random Gryffindors would it?". Remus leaned back into the sofa and nodded his head in agreement as Peter piped up, "of course not". 

Sirius' smile brightened. "Knew you guys would see it my way. Now...any ideas?" Remus rubbed his chin thoughtfully and James screwed up his nose. Peter began swinging his legs while tapping the armrest casually.

Sirius waited, but silence continued to reign, finally he piped up, "what about...the rogues?". The others eyed him and he blinked. "Yeah yeah!" he groaned. "The four musketeers?" Peter said lazily as he gazed at the cieling. "Corny" was James' reply. "Whatever we do don't let Sirius name us after some sort of fruit" James grumbled. Remus snickered as he nodded, "I don't see anyone remembering the legacy of the pineapples" he agreed hastily as Sirius glared.

Sirius pulled a face at them before screwing up his nose. "Don't hear you guys making any suggestions" he muttered. "The scallyways" James said with a snort and a wide grin. Remus rolled his eyes before retorting, "the scoundrels". James snorted again, "troublemakers" he added, putting on a high false voice, that sounded incredibally similar to Mcgonagalls when she was yelling at them. 

Remus also aquired said accent as he retorted, "Imps". "Devils". "Scamps". "Wretches". "Mischief-makers".

Sirius let out a yell of protest. "NO MORE! No more dictionary wars!" he cried in disgust and Peter nodded fervently. A haughty snort sounded and a peevish nasally voice echoed down over them, "why don't you try, 'The Marauders'.

The four of them turned to the grumpy looking wizard from the portrait. "Brilliant" Sirius exclaimed and Remus beamed. "I can live with that" James piped up, "me too" Peter added.

"Brilliant, from now on we are the Marauders!" Sirius declared loudly. "The Marauders!" James echoed. "May we wreak havoc all over the school...", "destroy what egos the Slytherins have!", "pester Teachers who threaten to give us detention..", "and have a bloody good time doing it!".

*****

The Marauders were truly living up to their pre-determined reputation. And even as the approaching Wednesday announcing James' birthday arrived already the name, 'The Marauders' was flapping from mouths all over the school.

Sirius had on a stroke of vengance against Filch, charmed the name with brilliant red and gold letters into Mrs Norris' fur. The cat had been evil-tempered before, but such a course of hatred the Marauders had never seen from anything less then a Slytherin. She would often dive out from behind suits of armour and cling hissing and scratching to the offending boys legs.

More then often Peter could be seen fleeing down the hallway with the spitting and hissing cat pursuing. 

It was Wednesday morning when the Marauders dorm erupted with, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!". Remus moaned as he dragged his hangings aside. "Mornin' Jim" he mumbled as the hyper twelve year old blur dived at him.

"REMY! Presents! Presents!". Remus winced as Sirius poked his head out, Peter was already slinking toward them wrapped up in his duvet. "Damn Jim, calm down" Peter moaned as he sank down onto Remus' bed.

Sirius clambered out of his own bed and dived onto Remus' one. "Go on then Jim" he goaded. Remus pulled a face as his bed became the designated communal sofa. James dived maniacally from Remus' bed to the pile of brightly coloured parcels.

"Ooooh! Thanks Pete" he called over his shoulder as a box of peppermint toad appeared at his side. "Aah brilliant Siri!..the new ones to!". A package of the, 'New and Improved, Extra Potent' dungbombs was set beside the Peppermint toads.

"Brilliant Remy! I can use these against Snape and Malfoy!". A thin handbook labelled, 'Embarassing Hexes and Mortifying Curses for your enemies' dropped to the ground. Several more boxes of sweets, a tin of homemade cookies from Hagrid the groundskeeper and a magical watergun later, James picked up a soft package.

Teering the paper away something silver slithered out of the package and silkily rolled over his lap. "Oh my god!" James squeaked. "I-is that....Is that?" Sirius stuttered as Peter's envious blue eyes stared down at the cloak sitting in James' lap. "An Invisibility Cloak" Remus breathed. "Wicked!!" James crowed, grabbing it he slid it eagerly around his shoulders and nearly went into convulsions of glee as his body dissapeared and his head remained floating in mid-air.

"I-imagine...the pranks...imagine what we can do with this!" James whispered with wide awe-filled eyes. Sirius gave a loud hoot of glee and an angry muttering came from another of the still sleeping occupants. "Oops, sorry Joe" he called back and Remus shook his head as a disgruntled sleepy mumble escaped the hangings.

"Hey...that...means....we can sneak around at night! Filch wouldn't find us cos we'd be invisible" Peter said slowly. Sirius and James exchanged glances, it hadn't taken invisibility to pry them out of their beds at night. They were more then happy to roam the school in the early hours, Peter however had a phobia of the caretaker.

"Yeah, it'll be useful like that" Remus said purposely. Peter didn't know that James and Sirius had more then often gone out at night times after his heavy snores filled the room. 

"C'mon, since we're up so early we may as well go get some breakfast" Remus piped up. The others nodded before going about their usual morning routines, it was as Sirius toweled his hair and Remus was brushing his teeth vigorously over the sink that Remus' feet seemed to slide out from under him.

He yelped with pain as his back landed with a 'thwack' on the wet bathroom tiles. There was childish snickering as a child-like figure hovered over him. "Loony Loopy Lupin! Loony Loopy Lupin!" the poltergeist crowed as Remus groaned. Sirius raised an eyebrow as the Poltergeist grinned crookedly down at them.

"Buggar off Peeves" Sirius said lazily as he pulled Remus back to his feet. "Oooh the brave ickle firstie" Peeves cooed sarcastically as he rose to hover over the pair. Remus muttered dully as he inspected the damp back of his robes, "you heard him Peeves. Clear off already" he muttered as he frowned and returned to brushing his teeth. 

Peeves swooped around the bathroom for a while, cackling loudly at Peter as he entered the bathroom before stumbling toward the showers as quickly as possible. The poltergeist seemed to tire of the game after a while and dissapeared through the floor leaving Remus to rub his back with a small frown.

"You alright Remy?" Sirus piped up casually, glancing toward his friend as he began to carefully brush his hair through with one of his fathers 'home-made hair-products'. Within seconds his hair was starting to shine like usual and untangling itself. "Yeah, bloody Peeves" Remus muttered back as he wiped his mouth free of toothpaste and began splashing water over his face.

"We'll have to do something about that Poltergeist" Sirius piped up thoughtfully, Remus grabbed a towel from the side of the sink and dried his face. "Yeah.." Remus replied non-commitally as James quite literally bounced into the room. "Birthday!" he squeaked before bouncing out again.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "maybe we should get some food into him.." he mumbled and Remus nodded.

*****


	9. The Boys are Back in Town

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Eight: The Boys are Back in Town.

*****

Now, in most peoples minds arming four hyper-active teenaged wizards with an invisibility cloak was foolish. But in the mind of James Potter, it was the best thing to happen since he was born. He had stuffed the cloak inside his robes and was absently petting it as they sat at the breakfast table, he didn't seem to notice the extremely odd looks he was getting from around the hall. The only ones seemingly not all that disturbed were his three friends.

Sirius was announcing loudly that he would sing James a birthday song while Remus backed him up. Peter was hurriedly trying to convince them not to, but was somehow being talked into becoming a back-up singer for the pair. Remus did have an odd way of twisting peoples intentions around on them.

The Gryffindor girls chose to make an appearance and slid into seats opposite the four boys. James reached over and grabbed a piece of toast, clutching the bulge in his robes where his cloak was protectively he sighed loudly, "birthday..". Sirius and Remus exchanged looks before turning on Peter.

"C'mon Petey! It'll be fun I swear" Sirius pleaded. "Besides, we owe it to Jim Petey. I mean, it is his birthday after all. How would you feel if your friends didn't do something special for your birthday" Remus reasoned, winking at Sirius as Peter squirmed guiltily in his seat. "Oh alright" he muttered shaking his head with a sigh.

"What're you planning?", the three boys glanced across the table to see an interested group of girls peering over at them. "Nothing" Sirius replied calmly buttering a peice of toast. "You'll find out soon enough anyway" he added at their disbelieving looks. Turning back to Remus and Peter he grinned, "alright, so what song boys?".

Peter snorted, "how about Happy Birthday?" he muttered sarcastically. Sirius rolled his eyes, "c'mon Petey! Can't you be a little bit more original than that!" Remus snickered shaking his head. Sirius' eyes suddenly took on an excited gleam and Peter shrank away, "I've got it!" he hissed.

The girls across the table seemed to perk up slightly and lean inconspicuously across toward them, Sirius frowned and beckoned Remus and Peter closer. Muttering quietly in their ears the girls pouted before sinking back to eat their breakfast. Remus began to what sounded suspiciously like 'giggle', and Peter went red and sank his head.

Sirius grinned, "it's agreed then!" he exclaimed aloud. Pushing his plate away from his seat he smiled, carefully standing up on his seat he began clapping his hands loudly in an attempt to get attention. Remus winced slightly while Peter began to slip underneath the table, "s'cuse me! s'cuse me everybody, the marauders have an announcement!".

The students seemed to perk up abit at the mention of the infamous name, as of yet they hadn't had any faces to put to the name. Now looking upon the first year seemingly shameless Gryffindor the whispering paused to eye him expectantly. Sirius grinned and grabbed Remus by the arm pulling him up onto his own chair, Remus not one to go down alone grabbed Peters arm and pulled him up as well.

"Today is a very special day" Sirius called out loudly, already the staff table seemed to be eager to stop the little disturbance. Dumbledore however seemed quite amused, from the Slytherin ranks came a loud yell of, "BITE ME BLACK!".

Sirius yelled back childishly, "happy too Malfoy!" before coughing and returning to his speech. "Anyway.. as I said it's a very special day for us Marauders, for it is Jim heres Birthday!". Sirius lifted James' hand up and waved it around like a rag dolls, it slumped back to the boys side as soon as it was released.

James began to slither beneath the table, the girls were watching the three Gryffindors on their seats thoughtfully. "They're the marauders?" one of the Ravenclaws yelped out in surprise. Sirius' eyebrow twitched and Remus began to snicker loudly as his friend shook his fist, "yes damnit! let me finish my speech!".

"Language Mister Black!" Mcgonagall screeched down from the staff table. "Er...right Professor" he called back and Remus groaned. Catching sight of the darkhaired figure that was slowly creeping toward the door, "Oi! Jim where're you going!" Sirius yelped in surprise.

"We haven't even sung yet!" he said unhappily as James took off at a run toward the doors. Remus cringed as snickering erupted around the hall, "for gods sake Siri, just get on with it!" Peter squeaked, terrified at the many eyes on them. "Happy Birthday Jimmy!" Sirius yelped before reaching for his wand.

"Without further ado, the Marauders present our very own rendition of..." Remus called over Sirius' certain continuuation of a speech. "The boys are back in town!" Sirius cut him off with a goofy looking grin.

Sirius flicked his wand sending an explosion of sparkles into the air, James was currently struggling with the doors Remus had conveniently locked. Remus waved his wand and background music erupted from all four corners of the room, the Slytherins gave loud, "BOO!"'s and jeers as Sirius began to sing loudly over the noise, in a mixture of his purposely annoying screech and his natural voice.

"Guess who just got back today?   
Those wild-eyed boys that had been away   
Haven't changed, haven't much to say   
But man, I still think those cats are great".

Remus took over from Sirius, struggling to be heard over the loud exploding bangs of sparks and over-powering background music that blared in his ears. He wasn't really all that bad, his voice wasn't particuarly powerful, but it didn't screech in the ears like a certain dorm-mate of the Marauders'.

"They were asking if you were around   
How you was, where you could be found   
I told them you were living downtown   
Driving all the old men crazy "

Peter joined the two briefly in a terrified squeak of, "The boys are back in town". Realising it was now his turn to sing he winced before belting out in a decidedly plain sort of voice.

"You know the chick that used to dance a lot   
Every night she'd be on the floor shaking what she'd got   
Man when I tell you she was cool, she was red hot   
I mean she was steaming"

Sirius took over from the nervous Peter, now getting into it fully. He left behind the terrible screech and bellowed out plainly and clearly over top of the tumultous noise.

"That night over at Johnny's place   
Well this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's face   
Man we just fell about the place   
If that chick don't want to know, forget her "

Remus grinned as he took over, the earlier jitters leaving him as he reasoned that if he backed out now he'd look like even more of a fool. He pushed himself to roar overtop of all the noise, although he was lacking in Sirius' powerful lungs he wasn't decidedly to bad.

"Friday night they'll be dressed to kill   
Down at Dino's bar and grill   
The drink will flow and blood will spill   
If the boys want to fight, you'd better let them "

Peter still shaking had to scream to be heard over the noise in the hall. Sirius' explosions were growing bigger and louder by the second.

"That jukebox in the corner blasting out my favorite song   
The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long   
It won't be long till summer comes   
Now that the boys are here again ".

Proudly all three of them had to roar out in a rather impressive show of noise.

"The boys are back in town."

Sirius waved his wand to bring the fireworks display to a stop and the background music trailed off with a short flick of Remus' wrist. Peter sighed with relief as the noise died down enough to hear the scattered jeers and the amused applause. "Thankyou, Thankyou!" Sirius cried out dramatically, sweeping into a bow and pulling Remus with him, Remus in turn grabbed Peter and forced him into a bow.

James had oddly enough vanished into thin air, where he'd briefly stood in the doorway there was no sign of him. The Gryffindor girls rolled their eyes as the three boys sat down in their seats again, Peters face was burning a bright beet red and Remus looked distinctly nervous now.

Sirius was eyeing Remus thoughtfully, his eyes every so often shifting toward the Slytherin table who were still jeering and laughing. Suddenly the most extraordinary thing began to happen, one by one the Slytherins who were still jeering loudly began to shriek with surprise.

Each and everyone of them sporting a brilliant shade of neon robes. "BLACK! LUPIN! POTTER! PETTIGREW!" the three seated Marauders exchanged glances, without a word they were on their feet and bolting toward the door, Sirius yelling dramatically over his shoulder, "I REGRET NOTHING!".

Remus drew his wand as he reached the doorway, several feet ahead of the others with a yell of, "Alohomora!" the doors swung open with incredible force and the three Marauders breezed out. The Slytherins had stopped suddenly sprouting the prominent eye-sores of robes and were all fuming as Professor Mcgonagall, flanked by Professor Luff. 

Squeaking Peter took off down the corridor, Remus and Sirius exchanged glances before running after their friend, with one last wave of his wand Sirius paused briefly to watch in satisfaction as a giant banner scrawled with curly red and gold flashing writing displayed, "Courtesy of Your Resident Marauders".

They skidded down the corridors, ignoring the yells telling them to stop. Sirius blinked in surprise as the air several meters ahead seemed to rustle before standing quite calmly ahead of them stood James. His face firmly set and his invisibility cloak in his hands, "c'mon quick, get under this!" he hissed and the four of them crowded close together before James through the large cloak over all four of them.

They carefully shuffled into an alcove to wait. Quick footsteps and a heavy growl entered their hearing before Professor Mcgonagall followed by Professor Luff strode into view. "Where did those blasted brats go" Luff growled lowly sweeping his gaze over the walls, his gaze passing directly over their hiding place before turning back to Mcgonagall.

They could tell by the strange twist to her mouth that Mcgonagall was finding it hard not to smile. "I dear say we'll see them again before the end of the day Daniel, I suggest you go back to the hall and help the students out with their....difficulties." The Potions Master gritted his teeth, "I thought Transfiguration was your department Minerva" he replied bitterly as he turned and strode back toward the hall.

Mcgonagall swept her eyes over the area once more before stalking off in the opposite direction from where she'd came. The Marauders waited for several moments, tense and breaths held before they couldn't take it any more. Peter burst out from under the cloak as Sirius took in a huge gasp of air while Remus sunk flat on his back to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"Bloody hell. If Mcgonagall and Luff had caught us..." Peter squeaked. James was uncommonly quiet as he carefully folded his cloak up and shoved it back inside his robes. Remus creaked on eye open, "what's the matter James?" he asked upon seeing the subdued look on his friends face.

"You guys know how much I hate Sirius' singing" he said quietly and Sirius' jaw dropped. "J-Jim...you aren't serious are you?", James began to wipe his glasses casually with his sleeve while blinking unfocused brown eyes at the fuzzy shapes around him. Replacing his glasses he frowned slightly, "it's my Birthday you guys. And you just completely embarassed me" he said with an uncomfortable twitch of his mouth as he fumbled with his hands.

"Because we love ya Jim" Sirius piped up slinging an arm around his shoulders, "if it's any consolation you can make a total prat out of Remy on his birthday". Remus blinked, "hey!" he yelped, James grinned suddenly. "Exactly what I was waiting to hear, plus your little routine gave me the perfect chance to try out a few spells under the guise of my new invisibility cloak".

He was practically grinning ear-to-ear. "So you were the one that cursed the Slytherins" Peter piped up and James nodded his head, "yup. And everyone thought it was you three" he grinned at them all and Remus winced. "Er...guys...I-I think we have Potions first...".

The four Marauders turned their eyes onto the others, "Luff". The word was spoken in unison, down to perfect synchronisation with an equally dreading tone in every one of their voices. This lesson was going to be hell.

Even as they trailed hopelessly down the corridors toward the dungeons Peter would occasionally pipe up, "c'mon guys..one Potions lesson...it doesn't really matter if we miss one does it? We could go to Honeydukes..or Zonkos..or work on the map". Remus shook his head and Peter whimpered, "Sorry Pete. We've already missed more Potions lessons then any other class, he's starting to get suspicious".

Sirius nodded his doomed confirmation and James steeled his gaze. Peter sighed dejectedly as he accepted his absimal fate, another class of torturous and murderous gazes and taunts from the spawn on satan they knew as 'Professor Luff'. Not to mention Snape and Malfoys little group, they were sure to be more then a bit peevish after the events of that morning.

Sirius began to hum a funeral march as they walked and Remus shot him an elbow in the ribs. "Not funny Siri, at least your actually decent at Potions, he's going to make my life hell" the tawnyhaired boy hissed and Sirius winced sheepishly, "don't worry Remy, I'll partner with ya so you can't mess up".

Remus rolled his eyes muttering a sarcastic, "thanks". 

They reached the dungeons to find themselves one of the last groups to arrive. The Gryffindor girls were clustered in a corner talking to the Marauders' dorm-mates Joseph Hahm and Laughlan O'connor. Joseph or 'Joe' (or as Sirius more then often teased him 'Joey') was a gangly tall boy. He was very pale with hazel green eyes and dark-brown hair.

Laughlan or Locke was considerably tanned for a boy from the middle of Scotland. He had bright strikingly dark violet eyes and slick tawny brown hair that was closely cropped to his head. He was shorter and stockier then Joe and more often then not wearing a wide smile.

The Marauders slunk trying to keep inconspicuous but Sally had already spotted them, "oh there you are! Mcgonagall was so mad wasn't she Alex". Sally elbowed the shorter girl who nodded lightly while rubbing her ribs with a scowl, Veronica rolled her eyes at her friend before tossing her head and resuming her conversation with Locke.

Lily was looking distinctly uncomfortable as she was stuck between Sally and Joe who were having a yelling match about who was the cooler wizard, Merlin or Dumbledore. Joe contended violently that Merlin was -much- cooler then Dumbledore because he was so much older while Sally shrieked shrilly ( alliteration! ) that Dumbledore did much -cooler- stuff then Merlin did.

James eyed the pair as though they were both crazy and shrank back, Sirius followed suit, carefully plucking Remus and Peter away. Lily in desperation grabbed hold of Peters arm and allowed herself to be dragged away. The Marauders eyed her curiously as they found her in their midsts, she gave a loud sigh of relief.

"You have no idea what it's like to be stuck in between them for more then two minutes!" she whispered jabbing a thumb toward the bickering pair. Sirius nodded his head gravely, "you poor tortured soul" he sighed aloud and she nodded her head fervently. James rolled his eyes and smacked Sirius as he once more began to unconciously hum the funeral march.

"Stop that Siri!" he pleaded with the boy who blinked, Remus had a smouldering glare fixed in place and Sirius laughed nervously. "Sorry bout that" he conceded glancing from a truly creepy looking Remus toward James who seemed happy that Sirius had stopped humming.

Peter gave an undignified squeak as he was poked harshly in the back of the head, he whipped around and found himself face to face (alright so face to chest) with Lucius Malfoy. "Think you're clever do you?" he drawled loudly his eyes flittering over the Marauders, "pack of imbeciles...." he drawled louder.

His eyes lingered on Remus for several seconds before his lip curled, "don't see what he see's in you" he added as an aftertaste as he stalked away. Remus peered around at his friends in bewilderment, "who see's what in me?" he whispered in confusion, Sirius shrugged and James scratched his head.

Peter seemed to think that someone seeing anything in one of his friends must be a bad thing and began to inspect Remus intently as though determined to find out what was wrong with his friend. "Dunno Remy.." James muttered obviously perplexed, Lily blinked from Remus to the Slytherin group Malfoy had joined.

"Guys...why are you looking at me like that" Remus spoke up blinking as he found their eyes on him. "Pete! Stop that already" Remus squeaked backing away from Peters intense searching gaze. "Er..Sorry" he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as his ears tinged red. 

Sirius shrugged, "guess we'll find out if it's important right?" he piped up and James immediately agreed. "Exactly Siri, don't worry bout it Remus. Malfoy's probably just talking out his ass again", Lily blinked wide green eyes at James with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged, "oh...he's here" she spoke up upon seeing Luff surrounded by the students waiting to be let into the classroom. She sauntered off toward the group leaving the Marauders in their tiny little four-strong group.

Remus gulped and James winced patting his friend on the shoulder, "don't worry Remy. It won't be that bad.." Peter nodded his assurance and the four walked with a doomed sigh toward the entrance to the dungeons. They filed inside and slunk down into seats on the back bench.

Luff swept inside, the door slamming shut behind him, the dungeon fell deadly silent as he settled himself behind his desk and took up the roll-call. There was silence except from the timid whispering of the student in question when their name was called. Sirius seemed near-to bursting as the roll drew to an end.

Sirius had never been much good at sitting still and being quiet, he had always been the rowdy exuberant boy that would talk until he passed out rather then be silent. Luff lifted his head a silky smile crossing his lips as his eyes fell on the Marauders cramped into the back row.

"Aah so you decided to show up today did you? Thought you'd make an appearance after that little stunt this morning. Give us a round of applause for our very own Rat-Pack." Luff clapped his hands together, the sound echoed loudly in the silent dungeon before dying out. "Well well, I can't have you four distracting each other, especially after that little show you put on this morning. Time to split up the Rat-pack, Potter you can work with Evans. Black you work with Avery. Pettigrew you work with Snape. Lupin you with Malfoy".

The Marauders sullenly stood and moved to their designated seats. Remus dumped his backpack onto the seat and began to unpack his Potions supplies silently, placing them carefully in a neat order on the desktop while Malfoy watched him, an odd curl to his lips.

Remus zipped his backpack up again and set it on the ground before sitting on the very edge of the bench, intent on keeping as much space between himself and the Slytherin as possible. "Bet you got a real kick out of this morning didn't you Lupin, parading around like a fool with your little friends", Remus tensed as the drawl lingered in his ears.

"What if I did" Remus replied cooly, his fingers toying with the label on one of the jars of his potions ingredients. Malfoy gave a small sneer, "That's what I thought Lupin. You think that because you strut around this school with your big bad friends that you're above the rest of us".

Remus snorted in an attempt to hold back the wave of laughter that echoed up this throat, "me Malfoy? That sounds like a perfect description of you" he replied as he twirled his quill idly between his fingers. He didn't have to look up to see the ugly scowl that took over Malfoy's lips, he was startled however as Malfoy slid closer on the bench and leant over to hiss at him. "You should watch what you say to people Lupin, someone might take that as an insult".

Remus feeling distinctly uncomfortable focused on the quill in his hand, "what if it was one Malfoy" he replied quietly before he could stop himself. To many hours spent with Sirius was what had resulted in this. To his surprise Malfoy didn't jeer back at him or retort in his usual drawl, instead a small knowing smirk curled over his lips.

"Watch your back Lupin, I certainly know someone who will be" he replied airily before sliding back to his end of the bench and begginning to set up his cauldron. "What do you mean?" Remus hissed back curiously, a nagging feeling invading his stomach as Malfoy smirked down at his cauldron.

"You can't mean you haven't noticed? I mean he stares at you all the time...You can't tell me you're that thick Lupin". Remus shifted uncomfortably, unconciously glancing around the dungeon. "What are you talking about Malfoy?" he retorted with a frown now crossing his features, Malfoy however didn't seem all that talkative anymore and merely smirked down at his cauldron as Luff paced back and forth at the front of the room, dictating the notes aloud they were supposed to be copying down. 

Cursing under his breath Remus grabbed his quill and hastily began scrawling down what the Professor was reciting about Flame-Freezing Draughts.

*****

Sirius twitched anxiously as he ran his fingers across the table they were working out. James and Peter were hunched over a dull History of Magic Essay that Sirius swore Binn's had set to bore them to death so he could have some company. Remus was once again missing from their number.

James had settled into being a 12 year old rather easily and the only remainder of his Birthday excitement came whenever he produced his Invisibility Cloak. James currently had his tongue stuck out with concentration as he racked his name for the names of Goblins from the Act of 1653. Peter had resulted to his usual source of when he got stuck, his own useful imagination.

Sirius sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Where d'you reckon Remus is?" he spoke up finally and Peter didn't bother to look up as he replied, "he went to visit his Mum remember, she's sick. Must've caught it from his auntie..". Sirius snorted, "you don't really believe that bullshit do you Pete? If his mum was that sick wouldn't she be in St Mungos, and why would he go home two days before the start of Christmas Holidays but put his name down to stay over the Holidays..it doesn't make any sense".

James nodded his head in agreement, swatting his essay aside and twirling the luxury Peacock feather quill that the Gryffindor girls had all chipped in to buy him once they found out it was his birthday between his fingers. "It's stupid, if she was that sick why couldn't he wait two days to visit her? Sirius is for once right Pete, I reckon somethings going on".

Peter sighed and set his essay aside, "I don't know, why would Remus lie to us about where he's going?". Sirius shrugged, "maybe he doesn't want anyone to know? Have you guys noticed anything about when he leaves, I mean, it's always once every month right. And sometimes he doesn't get back for days...and he always looks terrible. Like he's getting over the flu or something" James nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, and he's always really moody around the time before he leaves you know? Like last time when he socked Malfoy right in the face..and he yelled at Pete" James added to Sirius' suspicions his eyebrows waggling before settling into a thoughtful frown. Peter shifted uncomfortably, "well..I dunno whether you guys noticed this or not..but he's never been to the special astronomy classes that ol' Vektor holds to study the effect of the full moon on the constellations" he said slowly.

"Shit your right Pete" Sirius replied, obviously trying to think back over all of the special astronomy classes that had been held. "Well I don't know..maybe we should ask him?" Peter said hopefully, though he seriously doubted that James and Sirius would take to his idea.

"I don't know. He doesn't like to talk about his family does he..." James nodded his head. "Maybe we should leave it for a while, just see whether we can get some more information" Peter sighed with relief. "Good idea, I mean he could really have a sick relative for all we know", Sirius snorted his own disbelief and turned his head away.

"Alright we'll leave it. But if it happens again next month we do something alright?" James and Peter nodded their heads and Sirius smiled, "good. Now I have to get this astronomy homework done", he peered down at the haphazard lunar chart and laughed nervously, he'd connected several of the plotted constellations to make an uncanny resemblance to Snapes beaked profile.

"Looks like i'll have to start again" he said with a sigh before crumpling the paper up into his fist and lobbing it over James and Peter's heads.

A nearby group of second years who had found the bit of paper in their midsts turned to glare at them and Sirius smiled sheepishly (more alliteration!). 


	10. Bad to the Bone

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Nine: Bad to the Bone.

A/n: Thanky'all for reviewing! A few short answers before I go on, of course you have every right to aspire to a Remus/Sirius Slash as this'll probably turn out to be one. They are one of my favourite couples ^_^;; As for the whole song thing, yes it is on purpose that i'm choosing the oldies. It'd be sorta freakish if they were listening to modern music in the seventies wouldn't it? Plus I do admit that the songs i'm using are ones that I actually like. Oh god this chapter is crazy, I'm telling you it just get's weirder and weirder. If you are freaked out by weirdness, be prepared to be in hysterics :D Yes I did quote Monty Python! WAIIII Monty Python rocks my socks. God I don't know what I was on when I was writing the Christmas feast part of this chapter...Anyway, Viva La France! or rather..Go the Kiwi's! Btw..as for the Jesus thing, My art teacher actually did this...strange randomish person. @_@;;

*****

Christmas morning seemed to jump out from nowhere for the first year Gryffindors. In the Marauders dorm especially havoc had been let loose, by none other then the resident James Potter.

Now James was excitable on his birthday, he was cheerful at Easter Time, and Halloween always brought a certain kick into his attitude, but Christmas was like pouring a bag of sugar down his throat and insisting he drunk nothing but caffine for a week. Which was how the Marauders Dorm came to be looking like a tornado had struck.

Scraps of giftwrap and ribbon were strewn about the room, amongst the ruins were the occasional stray sock or cloak, not to mention the majority of Sirius' trunk. 

Now most people wouldn't mind that one of their good friends was into the Christmas Spirit, but unfortunately for the House Elves who took the liberty of cleaning the Marauders Dorm, Sirius Black seemed to enjoy christmas every bit as much as the aforementioned James Potter.

"ALRIGHT! DAD DID IT!". These were the words when very exhausted Remus Lupin woke up to in the early hours of December 25th. "REMY! Get up already! PRESENTS!", Remus moaned and pulled his covers up to his chin before dragging his pillow over his head.

"Oooooh Remus Darling!" James squealed in a high-pitched female voice. "Remy sweetie? Don't you want to open your presents from Uncie Siri and Uncie Jim?". Remus moaned and burrowed deeper into his blankets, "go away" was the muffled response and the very enthusiastic pair of Marauders seemed slightly put-out.

"But sweetie!" Sirius said pouting, "It's christmas time!". Remus grumbled loudly, "bah humbug". "Christmas a humbug Remus?" Sirius replied sweetly as he tore back the hangings to raise an eyebrow at the tangle of bedclothes and lump that appeared to be a sleepy Remus.

James peered over Sirius' shoulder thoughtfully, "Oi Pete..." he called. From amidst a pile of giftwrap the smallest Marauder appeared, blinking dully at them before scurrying over. "What?" he asked peering around Sirius to look at the heap of blankets and the moody member of the Marauders.

"That's not right...he hasn't even opened his presents!" James exclaimed with a thoughtful frown. "I can still hear you!" came a muffled accusation and James beamed down at the pile of blankets, "oh I know Remy" he replied cheerfully. Sirius beckoned to the pair of Marauders peering over or around him and coughed discretely, tilting his head towards the lump in the bed.

The pair gave affirmative nods before Sirius rose three fingers with a grin, slowly he mouthed, 'three....two...one'. Remus howled with pain and aggravation as three not-so-light teenagers jumped ontop of his bed, or more precisely, on top of him.

"GET OFFA ME!" he wailed in what seemed to be genuine pain. The Pillow had dissapeared from their friends head in seconds and James immediately began to hoot with laughter as their friend showed his tousel-haired face.

Remus' hair stuck up at odd angles from his head, his amber eyes were dull and sleep ridden and his face was of confusion. This however couldn't hide the fact that he looked terribly pale and skeletally ill.

He blinked blearily before shoving Peter roughly off of his chest so he could sit up and breathe properly. "If you wouldn't mind giving me the use of my legs" he mumbled, "I'd like to find out whether i'm now a paraplegic". Sirius grinned wickedly down at him before standing and begginnning to bounce on the end of Remus' bed, "Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings Of the bluebird as she sings. The six o'clock alarm would never ring. But it rings and I rise, Wipe the sleep out of my eyes. My shavin' razor's cold and it stings." 

As Sirius sung loudly to the world James clapped his hands over his ears and began to yell loudly, "I can't hear you! Nanananananananana". Remus groaned loudly, "Cheer up, Sleepy Jean. Oh, what can it mean. To a daydream believer And a homecoming queen!" mumbling beneath his breath Remus stood and sauntered off toward the bathroom, tugging on his pyjama shirt with a frown.

"REMY! Open your presents already!" Sirius yelped as he sprung off of the boys bed and landed catlike on the floor. "C'mon! C'mon C'mon C'mon!" he moaned and Remus winced. "Lemme wash my face" he mumbled sleepily as he all but dragged himself into the bathroom.

"Can't that wait! PUHLEASE!". "If you hadn't opened all of yours so early then you wouldn't have to wait" Remus replied as he splashed cold water over his face, his usual wit returning with the loss of mind-numbing sleep.

"Nananananannananana!" James yelled at the top of his lungs, his eyes squished shut until Peter tapped him timidly on the shoulder. James creaked one eye open to peer at Peter nervously, "what is it Pete?" he asked carefully. "He's stopped singing" Peter replied seriously and James grinned and removed his fingers from his ears, "Aha! I finally won!" he roared in triumph.

"You once thought of me As a white knight on a steed. Now you know how happy I can be. Oh, and our good times start and end Without dollar one to spend. But how much, baby, do we really need." Sirius sung out suddenly and unexpectedly causing James to wail loudly in defeat and pretend to break down sobbing on Peters shoulder. "Why god why! Why does he have to sing!" James cried dramatically to the sky causing Sirius to pull out an extremely offended looking face.

"Why I never Jim! I thought you were my friend!". Remus yawned widely as he re-entered the dorm and surveyed the wreckage with a sigh, "don't worry Siri, I like your singing" he replied sweetly before slumping down beside his bed and folding his legs indian style and picking up the first package.

Sirius plopped down beside him and leaned over to watch Remus carefully unstick every piece of sellotape one at a time, taking precious time to make sure not even one rip was present on the paper. Sirius' eyebrow began to twitch as Remus carefully unfolded one end of the parcel before turning it around to repeat the process.

He glanced up at James who was grinning madly before whipping his head around to gaze at Remus' face. His eyes bulged before he dove on the boy with a yell of, "your doing that on purpose you Prat!". Remus' maniacal laughter rang down into the commonroom startling several third years who seemed rather unnerved.

Sirius growled as he began to tickle his friend mercilessly, Remus was cackling so loudly now that James took the oppurtunity to stuff his fingers back in his ears. "S-st-stop S-s-s-siri! I-i I cant BREATHE!". Remus was writhing around like a worm who was being threatened with a large sharp pin, tears of laughter coursing down his face.

Sirius sniffed huffily before sitting back and folding his arms, "you deserved it you prat" he replied haughtily and Remus regained some composure with a grin. "Sorry Siri, I couldn't help myself" he said still fighting back a chuckle that would resurface every now and then.

He ripped open the parcel and blinked as a piece of paper floated down from it followed by what looked to be a wooden spinning top painted in fluorescent colours. Sirius raised an eyebrow before leaning forward to peer at the object curiously, "is that a sneakoscope?" Peter asked thoughtfully.

Remus who had been reading over the note nodded with a grin. "Yeah, from my brother". James snatched the note and began to snicker loudly, "for my favourite moon-child?" he crowed and Remus turned a deep red. "H-he's visiting the states at the moment, trying to get the Salem Institute to sponsor his research..." Remus said quickly plucking the note back and folding it up before sticking it in his pocket.

Sirius blinked and poked the reasonably large spinning top with a frown. It suddenly began to spin at an alarming rate letting out a piercing whistle that rang in their ears. "Oi Siri, you better get away from it. It'll never stop whistling with you in this dorm" Sirius eyed James with a snort of laughter. "Like your any more trustworthy Jim my lad" he retorted.

Remus eyed the Sneak-o-Scope with a small amused smile. "I doubt it'll be any good with any of us around, more of a hassle then a help". None the less he carefully wrapped it up in his handkerchief to stifle the noise and placed it on the end of his bed. He picked up the next puzzle and as he was opening it asked casually, "What were you yelling about when you woke me up Siri?". Sirius' eyes seemed to glaze over as his face if possible split into a wider grin.

"My Dad charmed a record player so it'll work around here! I will be musicless no more my friends!" he cried clutching his heart dramatically. "Brilliant" James said with a grin, "now we can use it to drown out your singing in the shower!". Remus chuckled as he plucked the card off of the wrapping, it read 'Merry Christmas Remus. Lot's of Love from Mum and Dad. xxxx'

From it slid a large tin of what appeared to be Fruit Mince Pies. Remus sighed loudly as he picked up the next parcel, it was thick and squishy, he raised an eyebrow and ripped it open. A thick luxurious looking dark-tan cloak slid out in a thick bundle. It was lined with what appeared to be sheeps wool and looked incredibally warm.

Another note fluttered out from it and he unfolded it to study it carefully.

'Happy Christmas Remus!  
Hope you like the cloak, 100% pure Merino Sheep Wool made in New Zealand. Had it couriered over last night, cost me a bundle too. Be grateful squirt! Didn't think I'd only give you a Sneak-o-Scope did you? Really I thought you'd realise your older brother isn't that cheap. These Salem officials are loaded!  
Write me soon Moon-Child.  
-- Rom.

Remus beamed as Sirius plucked this note from him and his eyes bulged. "I bet it cost him a bundle, these things are really expensive. My Aunt Penny once looked at buying one through Owl Post but they were to expensive". Sirius poked the wool with a small grin, "probably don't want the poor lil' moon-child to get a cold right Jim?". 

James grinned widely, "yeah, poor ickle moon-child might get the flu". Remus pulled a face before opening the next present, he smiled at Peter as he produced a large box of Fizzing Whizzbee's. "Thanks Pete" he said as he peered at the mouthwatering sherbet balls with a sigh.

Peter could be trusted to know every single one of thems' favourite sweets and was never stingy when buying presents. Sirius thrust a parcel wrapped in shiny black paper under Remus' nose, "open this one Remy! It's from me" he announced proudly. Remus raised an eyebrow, "however would I have guessed" he mocked as he slid the parcel open.

He raised an eyebrow as a tightly woven bracelet of brightly coloured threads fell onto the floor along with what appeared to be a gold earring. A conspiritive grin crossed Sirius' mouth as he leaned forward and gripped the golden earring from the ground, lightly unclipping it he held it toward Remus' ear.

Almost immediately the metal jumped from Sirius' fingers and found a happy home resting on Remus' right ear-lobe. "Magical Earring" Sirius explained gesturing towards his own which was a thick golden band that hung through his ear.

"And..." Sirius picked up the woven bracelet and tied it carefully around Remus' wrist, the colours were a mixture of golds, tans, browns, whites and a stripe of silver shone through everynow and then. "A friendship bracelet" he said with a broad smile, Sirius held up his own wrist brandishing his own, a mixture of silver, dark brown and (what else but..) black.

James also brandished his wrist revealing his to be of blacks, warm browns and the odd dark red thrown in for good measure. Peter timidly showed his own, pale blues, pale yellows and a mellow cream.

"See, we all match now" Sirius said proudly. Remus couldn't help but notice that neither James or Peter wore an earring, James seemed to notice and grinned. "Me an' Pete aren't girly enough to wear earrings Remy, that is withheld simply for you and Siri", Sirius pouted and said sniffily, "we aren't girly are we Remy?".

"Not at all Siri" was the reply before Remus took up James' parcel, a thick old looking book sat amidst the wrappings. It was extremely heavy and in faded curly script it declared, 'Making of Maps; the Magical Way'.

Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced at James as a grin spread over his lips, "thanks Jim, this'll make the map a whole lot easier then we thought!". Sirius nodded enthusiastically and Remus carefully hefted the book into his arms before placing it on top of his trunk.

Sirius bounced onto his feet suddenly, tapping his wand lightly to the top of a very modified looking Record Player the record suddenly begin to spin and Sirius beamed as music blared out into the dorm at a tremendous volume.

The aforementioned third years stared up the stares as the muggle music blared down at them at a loud overbearing volume.

'On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round   
And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found   
The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone  
She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone  
Bad to the bone  
Bad to the bone  
B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone  
B-B-B-B-Bad  
B-B-B-B-Bad  
Bad to the bone''

Sirius beamed at the others before realising the odd looks he was getting. Shrugging he opened his mouth and began to belt out the lyrics along with the record, earning a groan from James and a laugh from Remus. Peter ducked his head in mock embarassment and laughed nervously, Sirius belted the lyrics out loudly.

"I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you  
I'll break a thousand more baby, before I am through  
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone  
I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone  
Bad to the bone  
B-B-B-Bad  
B-B-B-Bad  
B-B-B-Bad  
Bad to the bone"

Sirius grabbed Remus by the arm grinning evilly. "Sing with me Remy my dear" he cried waving an arm through the air in a theatrical gesture. Remus raised an eyebrow glancing towards Peter and James for help, James was much to busy screaming, "NANANANANA CAN'T HEAR YOU!" while Peter launched himself onto Remus' bed and cowered beneath the covers.

Remus decided to take the easy way out and wrenched his arm from Sirius' grip and took off out the door. Laughing nervously as the third years eyed him, tousel-haired and still in his pyjamas. "Er..Merry Christmas?" he choked turning pink. One of the girls began giggling, "Oh how cute!" she yelped.

Remus' eyes bulged as he heard a cry of, "Remy my darling! Why won't you sing with me.." he ran and took a running dive overtop of the couch the third years were sitting on, landing with a thud on the other side. Sirius swept down the stairway peering around dramatically, "oh Remus, Remus, Where for out thou Remus?".

The third years stared at the quirky first year with raised eyebrows. "Behind the couch" one of the exasperated boys groaned and Remus sprung to his feet, wailing loudly, "damn you spawn of satan!". The boy blinked as the first year took off on a mad chase around the common room, leapfrogging squashy armchairs and tables.

"Back creature of the night!" Remus wailed as Sirius cornered him. "But Remy! I thought you loved me" he cried in a dramatic wail before collapsing to the floor unable to contain his laughter at the looks the third years were giving the pair. Remus finally gave in and slid down the wall laughing hysterically. 

James suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase raising an eyebrow, "guys? hello! You're laughing hysterically without me!" he yelped sounding distinctly upset. Remus wiped a tear from his eye, "please forgive me James! I couldn't contain myself any longer" he replied in all seriousness.

Sirius sighed and nodded his head. "Alas Jim, it is true! The laughter was just to great. I couldn't resist it!" James swept down the staircase his head held high and stomped over to their corner. "I suppose I shall forgive you, this time. But mind you don't do it again" Remus winked at Sirius, "wouldn't dream of it" he replied.

"Good" James replied before cracking a grin. "I think you might wanna see this" he suddenly whispered, "It was actually what I came to tell you about. We'll have to hurry though" he beckoned them back upstairs and the trio practically flew up them oblivious to the stares that the third years were giving them.

They paused in the dorm door and Sirius began howling with laughter again. Remus had to clutch the side of the door for support, for standing on the end of Remus' bed jumping up and down and singing his lungs out was Peter, quite unfortunately he seemed to be singing along the lines to Bette Davis Eyes.

" - And she'll tease you, she'll unease you  
All the better just to please you  
She's precocious, and she knows just  
What it takes to make a pro blush  
She got Greta Garbo's standoff sighs, she's got Bette Davis eyes"

He seemed to notice that they were standing their and paused in mid bounce, laughing nervously as he turned a ferocious magneta. "Er..you see.." he began before James and Remus followed Sirius' lead and collapsed on the floor laughing. Even Peter began to laugh soon enough and the third years not for the first time that day wondered whether the first years were really all that sane.

*****

The Christmas Feast was quite an affair. Sirius would every now and then burst into the lyrics of 'Bette Davis Eyes' causing Peter to turn bright red and the other pair of Marauders to hoot with laughter. Whether the teachers realised that James had spiked the Christmas Punch or whether they didn't care was an entire other matter, McGonagall was turning redder and redder in the face as she gulped down the spiked Punch and Hagrids laughter was growing louder and louder.

The Marauders themselves had helped themselves to quite abit of the Punch and were all abit tipsy. Remus was very pink as Sirius slung an arm around his shoulders and belted out another verse of Bette Davis Eyes.

"She'll expose you, when she snows you  
Hope you're pleased with the crumbs she throws you  
She's ferocious and she knows just  
What it takes to make a pro blush  
All the boys think she's a spy, she's got Bette Davis eyes"

James even didn't seem to mind that Sirius was continuously singing out. And at some point even began to join Sirius in song, surprising them all with a rather good voice considering his usual animosity to their singing affairs. Remus mentally stacked this away in his brain for further reflection before swigging down some more of the spiked punch.

"JIMMY!" Peter wailed loudly. James blinked and turned towards him, "what is it Bette?". He began to giggle ferociously afterwards as Peter swatted haphazardly at him, "Good move on spiking the punch Jim Jim Jimmy" he cried overly loud. Sirius began to snicker before yelping loudly. 

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog, he was a good friend of mine.."

Remus blinked at his friend and smacked him over the back of the head. "Jeremiahs my friend! You stole him you big stealer person you!". Sirius blinked, "he is not! He's my friend. The song said so. He said that's he's a frogbull and he's a friend good of mine!".

Remus snorted and promptly fell facefirst into his pudding. James eyed Remus before begginning to laugh loudly, "hahaha! Remus got his face in the pudding, what a silly-pants!". Sirius blinked seeming to sober up at this proclamation. "Silly...pants?" he said slowly eyeing James as though he were dangerous.

"Hehehehe yup! Silly-silly-silly-pants!". Sirius ducked his head, "Jesus christ.." he groaned and James stood up on his seat whipping his head around. "WHERE!?" he yelled out and Peter began to giggle at this, "haha...Jim...you're even more of a silly-pants then Remus!".

"Am so not!". "Are so too!". Sirius groaned and began to smack his head against the table. He found this rather hurt and stopped abruptly for fear he would mar his perfect facial structure. "Hey Remus, that taste good?" he asked blinking at his friend whose face was still implanted firmly into his pudding.

There was a muffled, "mmmph" and Sirius shrugged. "If you say so mate" he replied before grabbing Remus' collar and heaving him out. "Thanks Siiiiiiiirrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiii" he wheezed and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "No problem Remy ol' friend".

"Hey...you shut up!" Sirius blinked at his friend. "But I didn't say anything-" "Not you! The pudding, it told me to bite it". Sirius raised an eyebrow, "the pudding talks?" Remus nodded. "Said that all the puddings are going to unite and fight for their independance! Siri the puddings are going to attack!".

Sirius blinked, "this is serious Remy! The puddings could take over the world! even Hogwarts! we have to destroy them all!" Remus nodded his affirmative and shoved the entire slice into his mouth munching thickly. "We have to eat it all Siri! Viva la FRANCE!" Sirius blinked and shrugged, "yea!" he reached over and grabbed the pudding from James' plate stuffing it into his mouth. "wiwa wa fwance!" he roared spraying pudding all over the table cloth.

The pair ran down the table stuffing their mouths with pudding and taking hostage the pudding belonging to anybody who happened to not be eating it. Their crusade against the Pudding Army was brought to a halt however when Remus grabbed Filches piece crying out, "Take this Pudding Demon!".

Filch seemed to take this personally and barked out, "DETENTION LUPIN!". Remus stuffed the pudding in his mouth, "but the puddings sir! The PUDDINGS!" Sirius cracked up laughing at his friends frantic expression before realising, Filch was in on it too. "He's the leader! Get him Remy!". Remus jumped on Filch with a cry of "VIVA LA FRANCE!". Sirius followed suit trying to gnaw rather unsuccessfully on Filches moleskin jacket.

"MISTER LUPIN! MISTER BLACK!" Mcgonagall screeched and the guilty parties glanced at each other. "It's the General Remy!" Sirius cried. "RUN!" Remus echoed and that they did. Right out of the hall and off to god knows where leaving a bewildered table full of professors and students.

All except for James and Peter whose Silly Pants war was raging violently. James shoved Peter with a glare, "Am So NOT!". Peter glared back as he stood up, "Are. So. To." he yelled back. "That's it Mister Silly Pants your going down!" James yelled, Peter blinked, "Oh yea! Well..you too!".

The pair dived on each other causing the rest of the table to stare down at them in bewilderment, before glancing back to the door where faint echoes of "VIVA LA FRANCE!" and "HURRY! THE GENERALS AFTER US!" could still be heard.

*****

Remus clutched his head with a moan, pressing the cool cloth to his forehead. His uniform tie had at some point been tied around his head and he was now wearing his robes like a superman cape. "What did you put in that Punch Jim!" he wailed and turned toward where James, sporting a black eye was massaging his temples. "It was a spell I found, said it'd spice up any party". Remus blinked, "you mean the one that was in the book I gave you for Christmas".

James nodded and Remus let out a low moan. "That wasn't alchol Jim, you just fed us up on a good deal of happy pills". Sirius began to chuckle lowly but soon stopped as his head protested, he was still raking at his tongue with his fingers, "why is my tongue all hairy?".

Peter groaned, "you bit Filch" he replied. "I-i-i what?" Sirius choked. "You an Remy...something about Puddings...I can't remember". Sirius groaned and Remus paled, "you mean I bit Filch as well?" Peter shook his head. "No, you were holding him down" Remus sighed with relief.

"Well...that was certainly an interesting Christmas Feast" James nodded. "Mmm let's not do it again next year" he groaned and the others nodded. James suddenly quirked an eyebrow, "why do I have the uncontrollable urge to call someone a Silly-Pants?" he asked nervously and Peter suddenly began to hoot with laughter.

"I-I think I'm starting to remember"..he then paled considerably and laughed nervously, "uh-oh" he mumbled and three remaining Marauders turned to look at him.

"What's uh-oh?" Sirius asked blinking. "Viva la France.." Remus trailed off slowly before he turned very pale, "oh god...Siri..we..we ate everybodys Pudding" Sirius blinked. "What the hell did we do that for?" he asked frowning. "Er...army..army of puddings" Sirius blinked and his eyes widened.

"Oh...we sort of...yelled at Mcgonagall didn't we..and..oh dear god Filch" he began to howl with laughter, "y-y-you! You ate his pudding!". Remus turned pink, "er...why did I keep on saying Viva La France?". James blinked, "probably the same reason I kept on calling everybody a silly-pants..".

"Well...this is a christmas to tell the family about" Sirius commented with a cheeky grin. Remus turned a sickly green, "don't even mention things like that Siri! My parents'd flip if they knew I ate everybody's pudding and attacked Filch and..oh god I don't even want to know what else I did!".


	11. We Will Rock You

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Ten: We Will Rock You.

*****

Not for the first time, James Potter found himself in detention. He cast a surly frown at the bucket full of soapy water before him and wrinkled his forehead, eyeing the sponge that sat by his side before looking over the top of his glasses at Filch with disbelief. "You want me to do what!" he yelped, Filch smirked smugly down at him, "You'll be cleaning ever blackboard on this floor, without magic Potter. And be grateful it isn't more..gotta save something for next time" the caretaker sneered before trudging off leaving a disgruntled Potter to glare at the first of many menacingly dirty blackboards.

This was the second of many detentions that he was to be serving after the Marauders exploits at Christmas time. Unfortunately it seemed that he had spiked the wrong punch bowl, the one that was sitting infront of the Marauders rather then the teachers. He gave a huff before turning brown eyes onto the other three who were lounging lazily on one of the desks giving him cheeky grins. "Well go on Potter, get to it" Sirius said with a dismissive wave of his hand before slinging an arm around Remus' shoulders and beaming at him.

"You're a git you know Siri" James muttered as he dipped the sponge into the soapy bucketfull of water and eyed the dusty chalkboard with a wrinkled nose. Remus sighed before jumping to his feet from the desk. "C'mon you two, I don't want to be here all night" he muttered and Sirius and Peter reluctantly followed Remus' lead.

James sighed before lifting the soapy sponge toward the board and begginning to swipe the remnants of chalk from the board. Sirius grabbed his own sponge and followed suit on the other side of Remus who was eyeing a splatter of something that had hardened with disgust.

"Well it could be worse. I mean, theres the first Quidditch game this weekend after all. Something to look forward to!" Sirius piped up and James allowed a grin to cross his lips, "your right Siri, if theres anything worth looking forward to it's Quidditch!". Peter gave a weak smile, "Gryffindor and Ravenclaw" he commented and Remus shrugged, "I heard Ravenclaw are pretty good" he commented and James shot him a scandalous glare, "nuh-uh! Gryffindor are gonna flatten them", "no questions about it" Sirius added with pride.

Remus grinned to himself hiding it behind his arm he continued, "I dunno..I was talking to a few people from Ravenclaw and they said that the Ravenclaw chasers are future england players". Sirius' jaw dropped at his own friend debating against the Gryffindor quidditch team, James was stunned beyond belief.

"R-remus...what's wrong with you!" he wailed with wide brown eyes, his glasses slipping down his nose. James spluttered as a heavily foamed sponge hit him square in the nose, the foam dripped down his face revealing the culprit to be a maniacally grinning Remus Lupin. "Y-You did it again!" he yelled before diving at his friend sponge in hand. Sirius watched in amusement as Remus tried to avoid getting foam dripped in his mouth.

Remus had a habit of baiting them when it came to Quidditch. He seemed to find it amusing that everytime they fell for his games, Peter however maintained proudly that he had yet to be sucked in once by Remus' baiting tactics. James snorted as he stood up, now looking like a black-haired santa-clause with his large foamy beard and moustache while Remus now had dollops of the white through his hair and was wiping it from his cheeks while still grinning to himself.

"That isn't funny Remy" he snorted, "you just don't mess with Quidditch!". Sirius couldn't help but chuckle at James' appearance, he looked so indignant with his arms crossed stoutly, a stubborn pout forming on his lips while his glasses slid further down his nose now threatening to fall to the stone floor, his beard was slowly growing longer and now begginning to drip to the ground, splattering down the front of his robes.

"Aww give it a rest Jim, you just don't like to admit that Remy here can suck you in" Peter piped up grinning at Remus who was now wiping foam from his face, still grinning with satisfaction. James stuck his tongue out and got a good mouthful of foam on which he began to splutter with disgust, Sirius took this as his cue to finally let loose the barrage of laughter that had been threatening since his Santa-Clause-impersonating friend had attacked and hooted with laughter while pointing at James.

Not a particuarly wise move as James was well within reach of the bucket full of foamy-soapy water which was promptly emptied over Sirius' head causing the dark-haired boy to gag and splutter as his nostrils and mouth were invaded by soapy water, with a great deal of diluted chalky substance mixed in.

Peter joined James in laughing and was soon joined by Remus who had given up on trying to find the ever-foaming substance that coated patches of his hair. There was banging from the cieling and a great deal of muffled yelling. Sirius blinked and glanced up at the cieling, "I didn't know anyone lived above here" he murmured eyeing the cieling. "Maybe it's one of the dorms" James whispered gleefully rubbing his hands together.

Remus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "my guess is the Hufflepuffs." The three others eyed him blinking suspiciously, "what! The Ravenclaws and Slytherins both come into the hall from the direction of the dungeons, but the Hufflepuffs are somewhere up the top. They come from the same direction as us, but slightly west.." James waved his hand.

"Hufflepuff dorms" he confirmed as he heard a shrill squeal that was unmistakeably a first year Hufflepuff girl by the name of Patricia Adams. She had the biggest pair of lungs in the whole of first year and it was commonly stated by Sirius that she would give even his Auntie Penny a run for her money.

"What's say we have some fun then?" Sirius asked casually eyeing the cieling with a small grin. "I dunno..." Peter began eyeing the door no doubtedly worrying whether Filch would stride in at the worst possible moment, Remus gave a non-commital shrug, "I suppose since we found it we can't let the oppurtunity go to waste.." he began and James nodded his head, a spark taking life in his eyes that no doubt instigated that the cogs in his mind were begginning to spin at an alarming rate.

"This has gotta be good" Peter muttered doubtfully still eyeing the doorway, Sirius knew from the way that James' hands were twitching and the excited spark that danced in his eyes that this was going to be good. Remus seemed to recognise the warning signs to because he gave a small expectant smile and leaned against the forgotten chalkboard, a twinkle of intrigue taking hold of his usually mature amber eyes.

As much as Remus Lupin appeared as calm and neutral, the Marauders knew betten then anyone that their friend was a force to be reckoned with when it came to pranks and mischief. He enjoyed it as much as Sirius and James did, even Peter took his own quiet amusement from their little 'missions' as they'd chosen to call them.

"I'm thinking Mission 224" James murmured his eyes sparkling dreamily. All three of the remaining Marauders exchanged glances, this of course was referring to one of the pranks they had chosen to write down in a book for further use, when James went on a Pranking scheme he didn't like to forget them.

Instead they had begun a log book, full of pranking suggestions and the pranks they had put into use, stating date, prank and reaction of that particular 'mission'. Sirius had affectionately dubbed the holy book as 'The Pranking Bible', and they kept it close to heart, literally.

Sirius carried it in a hand sewn pocket on the inside of his robes, right infront of his heart incase one of the marauders struck upon a brilliant idea by chance.

He slid the thin black leather book from his robes and flipped the well worn pages toward near the back. This prank was one of the fresher ones in their memories as Peter had struck upon it barely two weeks ago in a show of pure brilliance on the smallest members part.

Sirius stopped flipping pages as he came to the page entitled, 'Mission #224', © Marauder Peter Pettigrew. He scanned lightly through Remus' even loopy writing and smiled widely as he turned towards James, "your right, it's perfect".

'For the purposes of this 'mission' you must have at your disposal the following items:  
A vast supply of Filibusters Wet-start Fireworks,  
Several large Sponges (wet if possible),  
A medium sized jam jar,  
Several Chocolate Frogs,  
A recording of one of the following songs, Rubber Ducky, Uptown Girl, Joy to the World or any recordings made by Barry Manilow or Tom Jones..  
A large amount of Moisturiser,  
one bottle of "Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover"  
A Rubber Ducky,  
A tub of lard,  
A pair of slytherins boxers,  
Remus' ugly bronze statue (Hey!)  
James' Invisibility cloak and   
A Superman Cape.

Sirius eyed the list approvingly before begginning to pull objects from his pockets frowning, he eyed the list as he slapped down several chocolate frogs, a bottle of Moisturiser, a handful of Filibusters fireworks, a Jamjar filled with cockroach cluster which he hurriedly emptied onto the bench and a record with the words 'Tom Jones' scrawled across the covering.

Peter dug into his own pockets, producing a Rubber Ducky, and Remus' said ugly bronze statue. Remus blinked, "Hey! That's mine, why the hell did you have it" Peter set the particuarly tacky and hideous gargoyle down on the bench and shrugged, "that's all I have".

Remus muttered lowly, "it isn't ugly either" before wordlessly removing an envelope from his pocket and carefully unsealing it before shaking it's contents with a wrinkled nose onto the table, a pair of satin green boxers fell onto the table labelled, 'L Malfoy'. He gave a shudder and backed away, Sirius raised an eyebrow, "what are you doing with Malfoys boxers?" he asked curiously raising an eyebrow, "Blackmail purposes" was the short reply.

James slid the invisibility cloak from it's ever faithful place inside his robes and frowned slightly as he dug through his pockets, "well we have the sponges, and I bet Filch has some of Mrs Skower's in the broom cupboard. But what's with the superman cape and tub of lard...why would I carry around a tub of lard in my pockets?". Sirius brightened, "oh hold on" he rummaged inside his robes for a second before producing the said tub of lard with a broad smile and placing it on the table.

James eyed him questioningly with a raised eyebrow and edged backwards with a distasteful snort, "as for the superman cape" Remus spoke up withdrawing a small rag they had been given to wipe the board off with after they'd cleaned it. He brought out his wand and tapped it lightly with a brief mutter, the material stretched until it was decently large enough to make a cape before he calmly charmed it to bright red, the material smoothed and became long and rippling like any good super-heros cape and Remus smiled broadly.

"You seem like you've had experience" Sirius said suppressing a snicker and earned a frown, "well of course. I'm not the one who's always asking to play Batman and Robin now am I?" Remus asked with a superior smile and Sirius turned pink. "You said you'd never tell!" he hissed as James and Peter eyed the pair nervously.

"Well you wanted to know where my experience came from" he answered airily before winking at the other two. "Anyway we need to get that cleaner don't we, who volunteers?". Sirius waved his hand jumping up and down frantically, "me me!" he yelped. Remus ignored him blatantly, "anybody? anybody at all?" Sirius jumped even more persistently, "ME! Damnit Remy! Me me!".

"I guess it's you then Jim" Remus said with a shrug and James grinned before slipping the invisibility cloak around his shoulders and disspearing with a mutter of, "back in a minute" and slipping away. Sirius slumped with a frown glaring at Remus who grinned back, "what?" he asked innocently and blinked as Sirius pounced on him.

"Siri- what the hell". Sirius grinned wickedly as he deftly pinned Remus and stood raising his hands in triumph, "all round champion of the world isssssss SIRIUSSSSS BLAAAACCCCKKKK!" he roared in a loud voice that reminded Peter of a boxing commentator.

Remus frowned, "that wasn't fair..it was a mismatch!" he yelped indignantly as he stood and Sirius slung an arm around his friends shoulders, "don't take it to badly Remy. You were beaten by the best after all", Remus pulled a face before falling into the act, "we aren't worthy oh champion" he mocked and Sirius grinned flashing a wink at his friend.

Peter eyed Sirius suspiciously and blinked as the boy winked at him, "don't worry Pete, i'm not about to maul you as well" Remus blinked and elbowed Sirius in the ribs. "Maul me will you?" he cried sounding like a haughty frenchmen before mocking pulling off a glove and slapping Sirius with it. Sirius clutched his cheek where the imaginary glove had hit and let out a surprised yelp, "how dare you vagrant! I shall defeat you...draw your saber!".

Remus blinked before brandishing his wand, "Ha! You will never defeat me! For I am ZORRO!". Sirius blinked, "oh yeah..well i'm another guy with a jolly long sword! Enguarde!". The pair began to swordfight with their wands much to the amusement of Peter who sat on a desk to watch as the fight became rather dramatic, with Remus bounding from desktop to desktop with Sirius jabbing at his legs with yells of "ha! ha!". This was how a puzzled James Potter came to staring at his swashbuckling friends as they jumped from desk to desk duelling with wands.

He held up the Mrs Skower's blinking, "er..got it?" he said blinking. Sirius paused from where he had caught up to Remus and was blocking a jab from the others wand. "Hold on a sec Jim, Zorro here is about to lose!". With that Sirius turned and sweeped Remus' 'sword' away and jabbed him in the stomach, Remus clutched his stomach with a wailing "nooo" and stage-fainted over his friend who smiled.

Remus stood after several seconds of pretense and smiled brushing his robes off, "you know. In a real battle Zorro wouldn't have lost" he announced matter of factly and Sirius snorted, "no way, another guy with a jolly long sword would have certainly beaten Zorro's ass". Peter seemed to contemplate his highly esteemed judging position before holding up his hand, "I resolve that both of you would lose for the fact that if you actually did kill the other James would kill the survivor" James blinked and glanced between the two.

"To true Peter" he said with a small grin causing Sirius and Remus to edge back before falling unceremoniously to the ground with a crash as the desk toppled sending several chairs and nearby desks also to the ground. They gave moans as Peter bent double with laughter pointed at the pair, James smirking strolled over and dragged them out of the mess with a sigh, "must I do everything?" he asked and earned frowns from the other two.

"Well I got the cleaner" he said hurriedly gathering up the sponges and setting them on the desk that sported the rest of the odd assortment before peering over the Bible. 

" Step number one, half-fill the Jam jar with Mrs Skower's all-purpose Magical Mess Remover" Sirius frowned and unscrewed the lid of the cleaner before pouring it into the jar, the thick foamy substance writhing in the glass. " Step number two, take the pair of Slytherins Boxers and stuff them inside your tub of lard." Remus quirked an eyebrow at Peter before complying with a wrinkle of his nose and hurriedly snapping the lid shut over the tub of lard.

"Step Number three, , take your pre-prepared tub of lard with Slytherin boxers and pour Magical Mess Remover into the tub of lard". Sirius frowned at Peter slightly before pouring the Magical Mess Remover into the tub of lard. "Step number four, add a vast quantity of Moisturizer to lard/cleaner combination and stir". "Peter what the hell is this!" James said blinking as he squeezed half of the bottle of Moisturiser into the concoction and frowning.

The mixture began to bubble violently and Sirius raised an eyebrow edging backward. "Step number five, Remove the boxers from the concoction". James wrinkled up his nose before pulling the boxers from the mess with a disgusted glop. To their surprise the boxers appeared perfectly clean and in fact had turned a most interesting bright red, almost indeed like, "superman undies!" Sirius announced loudly. The strangest thing however was the large M embroidered in the bright yellow diamond almost as if..."MALFOY MAN!" Peter cried with a snicker.

Remus eyed the smallest of the group with alarm. "Pete...you..you're truly sadistic!". "So that's what the capes for..." James mumbled..I still don't get the rest of it..". Peter smiled "You will" he answered.

"Step Number Six, transfigure Remus' ugly bronze statue'-"It's not ugly!"-'into a stylish bronze box". Remus ground his teeth glaring at Peter heartily, James who excelled in Transfiguration swept forward rolling his sleeves back before giving the appropriate wave of his wand, it wasn't exactly 'stylish' but the bronze box seemed satisfactory to Peter who grinned.

"Step Number Seven, plant incriminating Superman Cape and Superman Undies in box, clearly labelling with Slytherins name said boxers were stolen from". Sirius grinned and carefully enlarged the label on the boxers so the name, "Lucius Malfoy" was easily distinguished. "Step Number Eight, rig Filibusters Fireworks to explode upon opening using wet sponge and jam jar". 

Remus shook his head wordlessly as he stuck the sponges into the jamjar and carefully pressed the fireworks into them, muttering a careful spell so they wouldn't explode before the intended time. "Step Number Nine, arm your chosen record as an alarm for when someone should discover said bronze box, (made from Remus' ugly Bronze Statue- see instruction Number Six)".

Remus cast a dirty look at Peter as he watched Sirius rig the record in the lid of the box, careful not to set off the Fireworks and glanced back at the table with a frown. "So..what are the chocolate frogs, the rubber ducks and James' cloak for then?" he inquired and Peter frowned, "listen!" he hissed before resuming reading the steps aloud.

"Step number ten, Stick adorable rubber ducky into box- (Slytherins dislike appearing girly and therefore loathe adorable Rubber Ducky)." James perked an eyebrow before wordlessly slipping the Rubber ducky into the box, careful to not disturb the Tom Jones record or the Fireworks. 

"Step number Eleven, Write incriminating Journal entries stating said Slytherins unhealthy liking for dressing up as Superman impersonator and his passion for Rubber Duckies and record of choice. Give long elaborate details to how he/she created wonderful Superman Impersonator Costume."

Remus actually quirked a smile as he bent over a piece of stray parchment, a spare quill in hand he began scribbling with his tongue stuck out on the paper. With Remus at work on the masterpiece of a diary Peter coughed before continuuing, "Step number twelve, drop stylish bronze box filled with incriminating evidence outside opposing house's dorm under disguise of James' Invisibility Cloak. Make a great deal of noise to attract attention then watch while eating chocolate frogs for reaction. Have fun!".

Sirius and James turned to each other grinning widely before glancing toward Remus who was enthusiastically scrawling on his piece of paper. Peter teetering on his tip-toes to inspect the clever youths handywork.

He began to snicker and James and Sirius crowded around to read the small letter like entry that was to be planted with the box.

"Dear Journal, (Diarys are for girly-hufflepuffs), I think someone has been reading you. So I have decided to hide this entry inside my Stylish Bronze Box that mother sent me for Christmas. Inside are my most treasured possessions, I could not bear it if someone found out about them! My most treasured Malfoy-Man costume. Oh how I loved roaming through the Manor, saving pure-bloods from the terrors of Muggles. I think I shall get up early tommorrow morning so I can wear it again, It wouldn't do if anyone found out about it. And my most prized possesion of all, my precious, my sweet Rubber Ducky. OH what would I do without you, last night Avery said some very nice things about Black so I went up and I held you. It made me feel so much better. I hope no-one finds my stylish bronze box, I should be lost without my Rubber Ducky. Just incase I have protected you, the Filibuster Fireworks and my favourite Record. Tom Jones is so special to me, it's like he sings straight to me. Well Journal I better get ready for bed, just in case Severus thinks it'd be funny to jump on my bed again, last time he nearly found you! Your's faithfully, Lucius D Malfoy".

Sirius was clutching his side in stitches of laughter as Remus dried the ink before placing it on the top of the cluster of odd objects and closing the lid with a smile. "Now, what's say we move on to step twelve shall we?" he asked eyeing Peter still somewhat coldly, Sirius hefted the bronze box while James threw the invisibility cloak over the four of them, they slowly crept out, Peter clutching the Bible close to him as they crept upstairs and along to the suspected opening into the Hufflepuff common-room.

Sirius pointed his wand to his throat muttering, "sonorus" before yelling, "My BOX! Oh No here comes Peeves! I'll have to leave it behind!". The sound echoed deafeningly and Sirius muttered, "quietus" before dropping the box and backing into the shadows with the other three to wait, sure enough the large cupboard creaked open and a curious hufflepuff stared at the box handily dropped right outside.

"Hey! Come look at this...someones left something out here". There was a scuffle and several Hufflepuff second years mixed with a few third and first years clustered around the box, hesitantly one boy reached out and flipped it open. Fortunately the Marauders snickering was drowned out by the sudden blaring of, "IT'S NOT UNUSUAL TO BE LOVED BY ANYONE.." and the brilliant rocketing of exploding fireworks that rocketed into the air.

The Hufflepuffs backed away letting out yells of surprise and stared as the Fireworks died off and the music finally died down enough to let them near the interesting contents. One boy picked up the letter and began to read it aloud, "Dear Journal..Diaries are for Girly-Hufflepuffs?- Who the hell - I think someone has been reading you. ...Stylish bronze box mother sent me for Christmas...rada rada rada....MALFOY MAN? What is this boy smoking?" a girl plucked the entry from the boys hands and began to giggle loudly before passing it on to her friends and bending down to laugh as she saw the treasured 'malfoy man' costume and the beloved rubber ducky.

The Hufflepuffs seemed to be getting their kicks out of laughing heartily at the letter and unfortunate content of the 'stylish bronze box' all until a most untimely entrance was made by one Argus Filch, muttering about, "those damn Gryffindors...skiving off of detention to create more havoc..hang them up by their ankles when I find them..", stumbled across the group of Hufflepuffs. "What are you little worms doing out of your commonroom? Shouldn't you be playing exploding snap with your nasty little friends".

The Hufflepuffs exchanged glances before gathering up the box and dissapearing as quickly as possible back into their commonroom. Filch growled as he stalked past glaring around himself in search of the four Gryffindors who held baited breaths until, "Well well well, what have we here? You'll be in detention until the middle of next year".

James stared down at the Invisibility cloak lying innocently on the floor, shakily raising his head back toward Filch who was leering unpleasantly over them, his nasty smile making it all to clear how much he was planning to enjoy the Marauders tireless detention serving.

*****

The Quidditch stands were already starting to fill when the four Marauders set up camp in the very top of the Gryffindor portion of the stadium to watch. All of them decked out in their Gryffindor scarfs, James having charmed their robes to flash red and gold in the light. Peter had been entrusted to making the giant banner, with Remus doing the finishing touches with several useful little spells to make it glow like a cheesey neon sign on a cheap street in mid-london.

Sirius had been left to creating the chant, or rather, finding a spell to let him play snippets of records without the use of said record player. James was presently writhing in his seat, muttering under his breath as he glared sharply at the Ravenclaw stands. "We better win" he mumbled and was met with several incredulous stares.

"Of course we'll win!" Peter objected with a frown pursing his lips. Sirius nodded emphatically as he twirled his wands in his hand, every so often eyeing the record that sat on his lap doubtfully. Remus was busy stringing the giant banner up to the roof of the stadium dangerously teetering as he stretched the enlarged bed-sheet across the top of the stadium before trailing back down and flopping into his seat an odd grin implanted on his face as the troupe of first year Gryffindor girls eyed it with admiration.

"This is really good" Alexia commented raising an eyebrow as she sat down several rows ahead of the boys before turning back to inspect the banner which looked remarkably like a neon street sign. "Of course it is, we had Pete and Remy on the case didn't we?" James nodded his head in agreement but was to busy staring down a Ravenclaw prefect to give much of an answer.

"Jim! Quit it, staring down the Ravenclaws isn't going to help Gryffindor any...unless it's the players of course. Then go right ahead" Sirius prattled on showing his enthusiasm as he peered excitedly down at the doors to the changing rooms. "Just think guys, this is our first ever Quidditch match at Hogwarts", he gave a loud sigh and sank back in his seat dreamily while Sally let out an indignant snort.

"Is Quidditch and Pranks all you ever think of Black?" she snapped somewhat disbelievingly while Remus gave a sigh similar to Sirius' "of course it is" he replied for his friend who was to far gone to answer. "Oi Siri, it's time for the show to start. The stands are pretty much full now", James seemed to perk up at Peters words and all four Marauders stood.

Sirius placed the tip of his wand to the record that now sat in his seat and coughed loudly. Flicking his wand lightly a loud screeching filled the sounds bringing about confused silence, he grinned sheepishly at the others before pressing his wand back in place and a rythmic clapping filled the air.

Several of the muggle-borns gave exasperated groans or excited grins toward the Marauders as their voices began to fall, perfectly in sync with the track lyrics.

Buddy you're a boy make a big noise  
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day  
You got mud on yo' face  
You big disgrace  
Kickin' your can all over the place  
Singin'  
  
We will we will rock you  
We will we will rock you  


The clapping was now almost deafening from the Gryffindor side who were roaring with appreciation and began to join in. Even James, usually so adverse to the Marauders singing expeditions was bellowing his lungs out, mostly due to the fact that this was for a Quidditch, the ultimate good cause.

Buddy you're a young man hard man  
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the World some day  
You got blood on yo' face  
You big disgrace  
Wavin' your banner all over the place  
Singin'  
  
We will we will rock you  
We will we will rock you  


The Gryffindors were waving their scarves as banners, sticking their tongues out and swaying their hands in the air. Needless to say Sirius' 'show' was going along to plan. 

Buddy you're an old man poor man  
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day  
You got mud on your face  
You big disgrace  
Somebody better put you back in your place  
  
We will we will rock you  
We will we will rock you

The background clapping by now was deafening and the other houses seemed quite bewildered by the unexpected pre-match entertainment courtesy of the four infamous Gryffindor first years who had already made an impression on the whole school. As they finished singing the four marauders stood on their seats and waved their arms madly at the crowd crowing loudly as their lungs would allow.

The Slytherins seemed disgusted behind their awe and were making it known by booing and firing pieces of rubbish toward the Gryffindor stadium. The pre-match entertainment was wound off with a large explosion of sparks from James' wand who had become decidedly excited and was can-canning while waving his arms enthusiastic.

"Go Go GRYFFINDOR!" he roared and was met with a bunch of curious stares. He reddened and sat down hurriedly ducking his head, Remus chuckled before thumping Peter on the back good-naturedly "You know Pete, I've almost forgiven you for losing my statue", "I'd say the team moral just went off the scale" Sirius sighed with a grin. "Or their embarassed as hell and will refuse to come out" Peter retorted rubbing his back where Remus had thumped him rather enthusiastically. 

The crowd once more roared with appreciation as the teams began to enter the field. "And here comes the Ravenclaw team! we have...Davies!....Mullet!....Boot and Boot! Rogers! Davison! annnnnnnndddddd Randall!".

The Ravenclaws through their heart into cheering madly as their team flew out greeted with tumultous applause. "And here are the Gryyyffffffinnnnnddddoooooors! Bell! Rowles! Richardson! Mehrtens! Jack! Patil! annnnndddd the Captain Marshall!".

The Gryffindors let out a wave of noise that deafened the rest of the stadium, their lungs straining as 'We will rock you' began blasting again from Sirius' wand. As the noise died down and the announcer was once more able to be heard there was a laugh, "and this is your commentator for the match, Jesse Jordan! I would like to thank the Gryffindors for the pre-match entertainment.." anothe wave of noise erupted.

"AND!" he screeched over the noise, "the rest of the crowd for putting up with it! Kidding folks kidding!" he yelped desperately. "Now Marshall and Randall are shaking hands. Hooch just let the snitch loose..there go the bludgers..and the game BEGINS!".

"Boot takes the quaffle, that's Aleisha Boot for Ravenclaw, she's really putting the Gryffindor Chasers on their guard passes to Davies..Davies passes to Mullet and...Nice block by Patil! and Gryffindor takes the quaffle..Mehrtens passes to Jack, Jack passes to Bell, nice bludger work by Rogers and Bell drops the Quaffle. Scooped up by Davies who's hoofing it down to the goals, he shoots and scores! Ten points to Ravenclaw!".

The Gryffindors gave a loud groan while cheers erupted from the Ravenclaws. "Now Jack has the Quaffle again, dodges a bludger sent by Rowles...passes to Mehrtens, Mehrtens passes to Bell and Gryffindor scores! Ten all. Boot throws to her twin and the Ravenclaw chasers are moving. Look at them fly, Boot to Davies, Davies to Boot who passes it to Mullet..Ooh! Nice bludger work by Marshall and Mehrtens takes the quaffle!".

The crowd was by now roaring so loud that nobody seemed to notice the faint shimmering of gold, all except for one James Potter who roared loudly. "THE SNITCH YOU NUMBSKULLS!". 

"And Jack scores! Wait a minute.. Richardsons gone into a dive! Randall is on his tail but Richardsons too far gone.. he reaches and RICHARDSONS GOT THE SNITCH!".

The crowd went into hysterics, the Gryffindors roaring with triumph began to dance as Sirius flipped the record over and began to play loudly, "We are the Champions".

The Slytherins booed loudly while the Gryffindors poured down onto the Quidditch pitch to congratulate the team. Four very triumphant Marauders began to wave their arms in the air as they yelled, throwing their arms over each others shoulders and swaying dramatically, "We are the Champions, my friend. And we'll keep on fighting to the end, Yes wee arrrre the Champions. We are the Chammpiiionnnns no time for losers cos we are the Champions, of the worlllllldddd".

*****


	12. Come Fly with Me

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Eleven: Come Fly with Me.

A/N: WOOOOO BAY-BEE! Summer Jam 2003 rocked my socks! Yay-ah. Good Charlotte, Elemenop, Nesian Mystik, Zed, Rubicon and...Carly Binding? Anyways, it rocked :P So I'm in a randomish mood, hopefully this won't suck to bad, and won't be to cliche as...Dun DUn DUN! The Marauders have discovered a secret amongst themselves. And not it's not an entire chapter dedicated simply to Remus' secret, I was to hyper to stay serious for to long! But yeah, you reviewers all rock my socks tooooooooo :D Woahkay! Good Charlotte rock live ^-^;;

*****

Sirius Black awoke in a struggle. His face implanted firmly in his pillow while his sheets attempted to strangle him, he gave a loud complaint as he tried to fight off the unknown assailant, the harmless bed-sheets however didn't seem to want to give up their prey quite so easily.

He heard snickering and shifted his head to peer curiously at the trio of faces that peered down at him mockingly, "having some trouble with your sheet's there Siri?". Remus Lupin, his voice dripping with honey batted his eyelashes at Sirius a sarcastic smile adorning his twinkling amber eyes.

James Potter leered over him a serious expression soley known as the 'James-Scientest-Expression' etched into his face as he adjusted his glasses and leaned back giving a pompuous chuckle, "quite simple really, I always knew that Sirius had serious issues.." Peter rubbed his chin, "do continue.." he murmured playing along.

"Well Peter, Sirius has contracted an extremely common case of..." Remus raised an eyebrow turning his head towards James for the verdict, "idiocy..". Sirius snorted as he projected himself off the bed at his friend who agiley skipped out of the way, leaving Sirius and a tangle of blankets to land unceremoniously on the floor.

"There there Siri" Remus soothed, "the blankets don't really want to kill you, they're just overly friendly". He gave a perfectly innocent smile as he bent to help his friend to his feet, Peter stood back to grin slightly as Sirius pulled a face at him and unraveled the blankets from his limbs.

Remus thumped him good-naturedly on the back. "Good to see that you can surface before 8.30 in the morning Siri, I was starting to worry" James commented running his fingers absently through his tangle of hair. Sirius snorted loudly and muttered incoherently as he swept past the three of them towards the bathroom.

James raised an eyebrow, "talk about Oscar the Grouch" he murmured and recieved two very odd looks. James turned vaguely pink, "Siri has a tv..muggle thing, you can see people acting on it. It was this program in the morning..it was this green thing that lived in a trashcan."

Peter exchanged looks with Remus and the pair nodded confirmation, "definitely contagious..." Remus murmured and James frowned suspiciously. "What's contagious..?". Peter spoke up as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Sirius' idiocy, you must have gotten it."

James gave him a withering look and blinked as Sirius bounded out of the bathroom now grinning madly, a considerable contrast from his previous mood. "What is it Siri?" James asked blinking his mind blocking out the earlier conversation at the look of positive glee on Sirius' face, "I just remembered! Valentines day is only three days away!".

Remus raised an eyebrow, "and why would we be excited about that?" Peter asked suspiciously. "Because! There'll be lots of sickeningly lovey-dovey couples around the castle! Perfect time to prank!". Remus earned a small grin while James slipped into a sort of trance, his eyes glazing over as endless possibilities passed through his mind.

"Perfect" he whispered, "this is our chance to do something really big. To get our name put down in school history..." Sirius nodded with a grin, "exactly Jim my boy, who's for skipping Herbology and heading to HQ?".

Remus immediately shook his head violently. He was eyed with confusion and he turned slightly pink, "I have to catch up.." he explained quietly and the others exchanged glances before nodding, "but I thought you'd caught up on everything from last time..". Remus seemed to turn rather shifty, his eyes flitting around the room nervously, "or is it for next time?" was Sirius' quiet murmur.

Remus jumped and eyed them nervously. "What d'you mean?" he began slowly his eyes slowly drifting from person to person, James was glaring at Sirius as though trying to send him telepathic messages though the look on his face clearly said, 'Shut up!'. Peter was quiet and somewhat nervous looking.

"We know your Mum isn't sick Remus" James murmured with a sigh, obviously having given up on his telepathic skills and deciding to get it over and done with. "Oh". Remus face was pale, his eyes had lost any spark that they'd had earlier and now seemed downcast and solemn, his face looked tireder and so much older then any eleven year olds should have.

"How'd you find out". His voice was flat and had an element of defeat written all over it, the three exchanged glances in obvious bewilderment. "I mean, did you check the lunar chart and notice that all of my 'visits' were at the time of the full moon? Or was it that I always eat so much before and after I dissapear... Did you see Madam Pomfrey taking me out to the willow?".

His eyes lifted and they were surprised to see fear evident in his tearfilled amber eyes, "well what was it?". Sirius turned towards James, realisation glinting in his big blue eyes, James seemed to have the same expression because the pair nodded and Sirius put a hand on Peters shoulder.

"When were you bitten?". Whatever Remus had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been this, his eyes widened as a tear spilled down his face, "when I was four.." he replied in a croaky voice, as though he had been shouting himself hoarse for the last hour or so.

"Shit..." Sirius breathed, running his fingers through his dark hair, his obvious expression of not knowing how to cope. "So young.." James mumbled quietly his eyes darting over his friends face as Peter seemed to realise what was going on. "Well..aren't you going to leave now? You can't be friends with a monster..." Remus' lip was quivering despite the harshness that resided in his tone, he seemed almost bitter as he went to turn away.

"What do you mean leave?" James asked incredulously, his eyes positively bulging as though this were the most preposterous thing in the world. "Everyone else did. Werewolves don't make the best of company apparently" came the same bitter snap that was so unlike their friend, it seemed Remus had slipped into a defense mode.

"We aren't going to leave just because you're a werewolf...you're our friend" Sirius spoke up, seeming outright flabbergasted that his friend could think such a thing. "No I'm not. I'm a monster Sirius, theres a difference" was the sullen reply as Remus went to stalk away.

Peter flung himself at the ground and grabbed one of Remus' legs to stop him. A puzzled expression worked it's way into his amber eyes as he stared down at Peter in a mixture of confusion and a hint of amusement. A spark seemed to slowly spread through his eyes before a faint chuckle escaped his lips, the chuckle soon worked itself into a laugh which proceeded into a howling fit which left Sirius and James exchanging wide-eyed expressions.

"Oi! What'd I tell you about laughing hysterically without me!" James yelped suddenly indignantly and Remus wiped his eyes with a small hint of a smile twitching at his lips, "so we're still friends?" he asked finally his eyes shimmering faintly. "No you prat. We're best friends" Sirius retorted with an obvious snort as he reached out to help Peter off the floor.

Remus' smile widened and he suddenly gave another dramatic sniffle, "I love you guys!" he cried flinging himself on James who let out a dramatic sob before dissolving into crocodile tears on Remus' shirt, "me too mate! I love you too".

Sirius seemed rather put out that he wasn't in on the Kodak moment so forced himself into the manly huddle and proceeded to howl loudly with fake sobs, "get in here Petey" he crowed drawing the tiniest Marauder into the 'manly group hug' where they proceeded to sob and cry like any true drama queen would.

******

Remus seemed happier then the others had ever seen him. Of course he'd always been a cheerful person, but he'd always had a slightly reserved air, as though frightened to really let go of himself and have fun, Sirius and James both agreed that the change was definitely for the better.

Peter still seemed to be getting used to the new Remus, he was still a little wary, not quite having gotten over the shock of realisation that his one of his best friends turned into a man-eating monster when the moon was full. But he didn't seem to care, Remus was still the same person he'd always been, just a little bit happier.

The four Marauders got along like a house on fire, causing havoc and laughter at every oppurtunity, which seemed to as always present itself at the worst possible moment, at least for the victims. Such an oppurtunity presented itself in the middle of a particuarly dull History of Magic lesson studied with the Hufflepuffs.

Sirius was busy mimicking Professor Binn's in a high nasally voice, the Professor surprisingly didn't seem to notice. James was flicking pieces of paper into one of the Hufflepuff girls hair while Remus was swinging on his chair legs humming along the tunes of a new record Sirius had ordered in by Owl Post. 

Sirius had been lucky enough to find a catalogue that included Muggle artists on their lists and took full advantage of the fact by ordering anything he thought looked interesting. The latest addition was a song by Otis Redding, which had become increasingly addictive to the Marauders, even if it didn't resemble their usual musical tastes.

Sirius had told them that it was one of his fathers favourite songs. Sirius seemed to tire of his mimicking before poking Remus in the arm, "hey Remy" he hissed. Raising an eyebrow Remus glanced sideways, barely pausing in his humming to eye Sirius speculatively. "Sing with me Remy!" he hissed.

Remus coughed slightly, "here?" he asked slowly raising an eyebrow. Sirius nodded enthusiastically before starting up in his usual forward manner, "Sitting in the morning sun, I'll be sitting when the evening comes, Watching the ships roll in, And I watch 'em roll away again". Sirius nudged Remus as the Hufflepuffs quirked their eyebrows and turned toward Sirius' a faint trace of interest filtering through their comatose state of mind.

Remus gave a small nervous chuckle before joining in, it wasn't like Professor Binn's would care anyway. "Sitting on the dock of the bay, Watching the tide roll away, I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay, Wasting time". James eyed them with a questioning frown before shrugging and resuming his paper throwing, Peter was much to busy catching up on some much needed sleep to take notice.

"I left my home in Georgia, Headed for the 'Frisco bay, 'Cause I had nothin to live for, And look like nothing's gonna come my way" James' eyebrow twitched slightly before he gave up his resistance and began singing along with his friends. Earning himself several very curious stares, most of all from his fellow Gryffindors who knew just how much he hated the Marauders much to often singing exploits.

"So I'm just...Sitting on the dock of the bay, Watching the tide roll away, I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay, Wasting time". Peter gave a loud snort in his sleep before peaceful rythmic snoring continued, "Look like nothing's gonna change, Everything still remains the same, I can't do what ten people tell me to do, So I guess I'll remain the same".

No-one seemed to notice that Professor Binns' droning voice had paused, nor did they notice that a slight frown was pestering his lips as the trio took over his classroom with live entertainment. "Sittin here resting my bones, And this loneliness won't leave me alone, It's two thousand miles I roamed, Just to make this dock my home Now, I'm just..".

To everyones surprise James took over, with a good deal more enthusiasm with the whistling then he had had when he was singing. He cut off abruptly however with a startled choke as he found Professor Binns, in dreadfully boring flesh standing before his desk a stern frown on his face.

"If you wouldn't mind Mister Potter, Mister Black and Mister Lupin, I am trying to teach a class". Astounded murmurings escaped the Hufflepuffs, they had never before seen Professor Binn's notice a single thing that went on in his classroom other then his own boring drone.

Sirius grinned behind his hand as Professor Binns returned to the front of the room with a promise of detention in his wake. "Ha! Told you Jim, that'll be ten galleons please", James raised an eyebrow before sighing loudly and digging in his robe pocket for the small velvet money bag he kept handy and counted out ten galleons into Sirius' hand.

"Who would've guessed, I thought the old git was deaf" James muttered as he stuffed his somewhat lighter money bag back into his pocket and pulled a face. Several Hufflepuffs continued to shoot them glances throughout the rest of the class, as though something were incredibally interesting about the trio of pranksters and their snoring counterpart.

As the bell sounded Remus idly prodded Peter in the arm, "oi...Pete...class is over. It's lunchtime". Peter snapped up with a grin and looking considerably more refreshed swept up his bag and strolled out at a hasty speed, Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced at James and Sirius questioningly.

"What's up with him?". Sirius shrugged, "maybe he's hungry?". James yawned as they returned to the front of the room to pick up their detention slips from the Professor, "you know. That was the most dreadfully dreary way to get Detention" he commented over his shoulder and Sirius gave a pitiful sigh, "I know Jim, I know".

"At least it didn't involve Slytherins Boxers and a tub of lard" Remus muttered, he had never looked at his Bronze Statue the same way since they had retrieved it and James had transfigured it back. He still debated hotly that his Statue was not ugly thank you very much and that it was a family heirloom.

Peter had commented airily that that was nothing to be proud of as it merely stated that Remus' ancestors had had no taste whatsoever. Remus had silently fumed for several minutes before cursing Peter with a well placed Jelly Legs which had had Peter wobbling round the common room for the rest of the night.

Peter hadn't criticised the ugly bronze statue again. 

Sirius pulled a face at the detention slip, "Luff? We have detention with Luff? Bloody hell" Remus pulled a face and James let out a dramatic woeful sigh. "Why must we play host to the spawn of satan" he murmured sadly. Sirius shook his head with a sigh, "I know Jim, I know..".

Remus shrugged, "well you two might have Luff, but by the looks of this I have one..Madam Hooch? Looks like I'm cleaning the Quidditch stadium again" he sighed, "good thing that Rom sent me that cloak. It's gonna be bloody freezing out there", he cast a dark glance at the grey skies outside.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "wonder why you got Hooch and we get stuck with Dark and Brooding?". The trio left silently contemplating, intent on finding Peter they headed toward the great hall. Sirius and James brooding over their detentions with the much molared Potions Master.

Spotting their smallest friend Remus quirked a grin and held out his arms to stop James and Sirius, he nudged them before acknowledging Peter, who was chatting enthusiastically with the 'very-scary' Alexia. His face was as pink as candyfloss and Remus announced after squinting his eyes, that Alexia to appeared to have a very christmas-light look about her face.

Sirius grinned and grabbed James and Remus' arms dragging them toward the table he sank down into the seats on the other side of their friend with a loud, "hey Pete. Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend?". Peter's candyfloss complexion reddened until he resembled the large amount of ketchup that was squirted over a pile of sausages on his plate.

"Sh-she's not my-" James cut him off by elbowing him in the side grinning. "Oh c'mon Pete. We know". Remus began to dollop food onto his plate, "it's quite cute really Pete" he commented off-hand catching sight of Alexia's blindingly bright red complexion. Alexia shuffled away from Peter slightly tossing her hair from her face they noticed she was for once missing her baseball cap, "I am not his girlfriend" she snapped.

Sirius winked at her, "oh I getcha". James snickered into his plate and Peter shot a glare at them, Remus shrugged slightly at his friend, "If you say so Pete" he commented off-handedly before begginning to put a serious dent in the vast amount of food that was spread over the Gryffindor table.

Peter began to huff loudly his watery blue eyes flashing indignantly before Sirius shoved an apple between his teeth, putting the smallest members rant to a halt. Peter spat the apple out turning to Sirius who was grinning madly, "geeze Petey. We already got detention, from Binns of all people, you'd think you would realise how much ranting we've had already today" he murmured wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

James snickered appreaciatively, "nice work Siri, that was most convincing" Sirius winked at his friend, "don't worry Jim, by the end of the year i'll be better then m'dad". James raised an eyebrow, "ambitious aren't we?" he commented lightly and recieved a punch in the arm, James blinked at Remus who had a nervous expression filtering over his face.

"What was that for Remy?". Remus jerked his thumb nervously toward a large group of Slytherins, they were clumped together, pointing and whispering, their eyes every so often would linger on the Marauders group, this had become quite the usual occurance lately, added to the cryptic whispering that Malfoy had been spreading and disturbing poem that Remus had recieved only yesterday and it was cause for concern on the werewolfs part.

Now the pointed looks that were resting on Remus could hardly go unnoticed, and quickly Sirius and Peters attention had been called upon to discuss the matter. Remus shot a furtive look over his shoulder and pulled a face, thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have classes with the Slytherins that afternoon.

Just a nice simple session of double defense, a nice interesting subject. Or at least that was what he thought. James suddenly let out a loud moan and smacked his forehead, "er Remy...some bad news for ya mate..". Remus raised an eyebrow, "what?" he asked suspiciously. 

James pointed vaguely in the direction of a large noticeboard tacked up at the back of the Great Hall and Remus raised an eyebrow, "Jim.." he began before he was cut off by a frown. "We have flying lessons with Madam Hooch this afternoon remember, every fortnight on a Wednesday afternoon?".

Remus paled considerably, it wasn't that he hated flying as such. More didn't excel at it like he did with Defense, Defense was decidedly his best subject and his favourite no less. However, the fact was that not only did Flying lessons take over his perfect afternoon, but added into the fray another unwanted element that went by the name of.."Slytherins" Sirius groaned.

Remus began to bang his head against the table nastily grunting, "why..me...why...me....why...me". The Slytherins by now were whispering even more fervently to each other, "what did you do to the gods Remy?" Sirius said with a sigh. "I don't bloody know" was the cold reply and Sirius blinked, Remus must have been pissed. Remus didn't often take out his frustration on his friends, Sirius patted him on the back. 

"Don't worry Remy, the Marauders stick together right?" James piped up comfortingly and Sirius and Peter nodded their heads in agreement. "Yeah, the Slytherins won't be able to get near you", Sirius added and Peter smiled, "Jim'll knock 'em off their brooms if they do".

Remus gave a small grin, "thanks" he mumbled and was met by a gushing Sirius who pretended to swoon over him before collapsing in a heap in Remus' lap. Remus blushed up to the roots of his hair as he shooed Sirius off of him, the Slytherins looked even more intensely interested.

"Oi Remy? You still got that Poem?". Remus' eyes darkened, "I burned it" was the sharp reply and James shrugged, "I just thought we could have figured out who it was from is all". 

Remus ran his fingers through his hair, "what'd I ever do to you" he muttered toward the sky ruefully.

*****

Flying lessons for once didn't seem to live up to Remus' doomed expectations. In fact, in all aspects the class was going fantastically well. Remus was having fun zooming through the air watching James as he dipped and swooped between the Slytherins causing Madam Hooch to bellow herself hoarse in an attempt to deter him to no avail, he would never hurt himself no, James was a natural on a broomstick.

But the less talented Slytherins had trouble not cartwheeling into the air as he seemed to zip out of nowhere. Sirius was swooping in wide figure of eights, effectively deterring any of the Slytherins from disturbing Remus' peace while Peter flanked Remus' right side, not quite so enthusiastic about the flying ordeal as James who was having the time of his life as he extracted a loud squeal from Avery.

Sirius began to sing loudly as he swooped around in his wide figure of eights, another of the old songs that had become implanted in his brain after his father played them when he was young, "Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away, If you can use some exotic booze, There's a bar in far Bombay, Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away".

James swooped back over to them grinning like a madman. His face flushed and his hair windswept (how this differed from his usual tangle of hair, nature had yet to fathom), his eyes sparked behind his glasses as he smiled toothily around at the other marauders. 

James, always in a good mood when it came to flying, pranking or quidditch for the second time that day joined a singing exploit. "Come fly with me, let's float down to Peru, In llama land there's a one-man band, And he'll toot his flute for you, Come fly with me, let's take off in the blue" the Gryffindor girls let out whoops and cheers and Sirius winked while James turned candy-floss pink. "C'mon Loopy Lupin! Come Fly with me!" Sirius called sarcastically as James easily convinced Peter that he wasn't (as Peter feared) on crack or alcholically influenced.

"Once I get you up there where the air is rarified, We'll just glide, starry-eyed, Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near, You may hear angels cheer 'cause we're together" Remus sighed and swooped over gliding easily over them before grinning slightly as Sirius rose and slung one arm around Remus' neck as he continued the next verse.

"Weather-wise it's such a lovely day, You just say the words and we'll beat the birds, Down to Acapulco Bay, It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say, Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away" James rose to throw his arm around Remus' free shoulder, bellowing loudly in his own moderately in tune voice, he'd definitely warmed to the amount of singing the marauders did.

"Once I get you up there where the air is rarified, We'll just glide, starry-eyed, Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near, You may hear angels cheer 'cause we're together" Remus rolled his eyes and glanced helplessly toward Peter who had a faintly disturbed and faintly amused smile implanted on his face.

Sirius grinned conspiritively, "sing Lupin or I'll embarass you even more" he hissed before opening his mouth to continue with the final verse. Remus complied more for to keep Sirius happy then fear of his own dignity, "Weather-wise it's such a lovely day, You just say the words and we'll beat the birds, Down to Acapulco Bay, It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say, Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly, Pack up, let's fly away!!". 

Sirius and James grinning identically released their friend who gave a sigh of relief before proceeding to swoop the Slytherins again. Peter swept forward to pat Remus lightly on the back, "glad they didn't feel I needed cheering up" he said with a grin and Remus snorted. "You are truly evil Pete" he muttered and Peter shrugged, "I try?" he commented and recieved a groan. "You've been around Sirius to much" Remus muttered and Peter blinked, "he's not the only sarcastic one around here" Peter eyed him pointedly and Remus winced slightly.

"Okay so I'm sarcastic sometimes!" he yelped indignantly and Peter grinned slightly before letting out a moan of irritation. Remus didn't fail to notice and looked up in time to see Malfoy and Snape break off from their group and head towards them, Remus jerked his broom away and zoomed off toward the group of Gryffindor girls, Peter following him in surprise.

"Quick thinking Remy" Peter muttered as they broke into the nervous cluster of girls who were taking things easy all except for.."WOOHOO! THIS IS RUDDY BRILLIANT!". Alexia whipped past Remus in a blue of brown hair and black robes, her delighted yelps echoing back at him.

"Nice show Lupin" Remus reddened and glanced at Veronica who was smiling rather evilly at him. "Thanks" he replied airily pretending not to notice the gleam of amusement in her eyes, "so your avoiding Malfoy and Snape again?" Sally spoke up sharply and Remus blinked laughing nervously.

"What makes you think that? I merely came over for the pleasure of you fine ladies' compa-". "Cut the crap Lupin" Sally spoke up sharply and he blinked. Lily smacked Sally on the arm with a frown, "don't worry Remus, it's fine if you escape the Slytherins over here". Remus beamed and stuck his tongue out childishly at Sally who fumed at him and clenched her broomstick tighter.

"Hiding behind the girls Lupin?" Remus' eyebrow twitched involunteerily as he whipped his head around to frown at the pair of Slytherins who were absently hovering in mid air on the outskirts of the girls circle. "What is there to hide from Malfoy?" Remus shot back cooly raising a hand from his broom to run his fingers through his hair, something he was accustomed to doing when trying to keep himself calm.

Snapes lips were curling into a nasty smile, "nervous Lupin? I don't blame you really, without Black and Potter to protect you your nothing are you?". Remus mouth formed a hard line as his fingers itched toward his wand stuffed inside his robes, "I don't need Sirius or James to protect me" he replied sharply his amber eyes glittering.

"Could have fooled me" came the sharp reply from Lucius Malfoy. Peter seemed to be nervous, he was more then happy to exchange pleasantries with the Slytherins on the ground, but in the air was another matter, although he was an avid Quidditch fan, his enthusiasm didn't quite reach to the skies.

"Really Lupin, I thought you were supposed to be intelligent? Shouldn't you be running away to your little protectors?" Snape drawled spitefully, a vicious lashing rolling off his tongue. "I thought that was your role Snape, I don't need to be protected" Remus replied without missing a beat, his fingers closed around the length of wood and drew it easily from inside his robes.

Remus' light coloured wand trained somewhere between the pair of Slytherins, Snape raised an eyebrow upon finding the boy apparently prepared. His own wand was drawn quickly, but didn't remain in his hand for long as an almost lazy sounding 'Expelliarmus' sent it flying into the air and was caught deftly by one of the Gryffindor girls.

Lily Evans stared down at the wand in her hand in almost surprise before blinking wide green eyes back at the penetrating glare now flittering from her to Remus. "Remus I don't think you should...". "Expelliarmus" a second wand shot through the air nearly hitting Veronica on the nose before she caught it blinking.

Two wandless bewildered Slytherins stared at Remus with nasty glares in place, two Gryffindor girls exchanged glances from where they had caught said Slytherins wands. "That's twice I've beaten you with a simple Disarming spell isn't it Snape? Maybe you should take some duelling lessons" Remus said shortly before Malfoy's mouth curled into the dominant Malfoy Smirk.

"I don't need a wand up here Lupin" he growled as he shot like an arrow at the werewolf. Remus, never an expert flier, seemed to move in slow motion. Not knowing quite what to do as the Slytherins broom smacked into his, Remus catapaulted off of the broomstick and fell like a brick from the sky, landing with an ever sickening thud and a crack on the grassy ground of the Quidditch Pitch.

*****

Sirius shuffled nervously, scuffing the toe of his sneakers on the clean hospital wing floor. Remus was still out-cold, his broken wrist was done up in heavy bandaging, Madam Pomfrey had been reluctant to mend it while the boy was unconscious so had opted to bandage it and then mend it when he woke up.

James Potter wiped his glasses nervously, his gaze shifting from his unconcious friends face toward Sirius', then to Peter who looked incredibally pale, the sprinkling of freckles across his nose standing out prominently. "I should've been there" Sirius muttered suddenly kicking the ground in frustration.

It wasn't the first time he'd said this, on the way to the hospital wing alone he's said this around twelve times. "What would you have done Siri? Got in Malfoys way and ended up in Remus' place instead?" James replied sullenly his eyes on the bandaged arm lying over the sheets on Remus' bed.

Sirius face twisted in a frown, "better then him being in there" he muttered and James shook his head, his long fringe flopping in his eyes. "James is right Siri, even if you had been there you wouldn't of been able to stop him" Peter mumbled, it wasn't a fun excursion to see one of your friends plummet twenty five feet through the air and smack into the ground and Peter still didn't seem to have gotten over the shock.

"He'll be fine Siri, you'll see. A little fall won't stop Remy". "Little?" Sirius snapped disbelievingly and James raised an eyebrow, "alright alright! It scared the hell out of me to Siri, but Pomfrey said he'll be fine. Plus, if your busy debating over your guilty conscience how are we going to plot our revenge?".

Sirius gave a weak smile before slumping down into one of the plastic chairs that had been set up, oddly enough they resembled muggle garden chairs and were about as comfortable. "Well then, let's hear it" he spoke up his eyes drifting between James and Peter. James however had opened his mouth to speak, but that's as far as it went because a faint stirring beneath the sheets drew his attention away from his hanging jaw.

Sirius jumped to his feet and peered down at the figure in the bed, Remus' eyes fluttered for a second before remaining open, he opened his mouth mumbling out groggily, "anyone get the number of that bus..".

"Remy!" Sirius wailed suddenly looking as though he were about to pounce on the boy, James thought it a good measure to hold him back with a pointed look at the bandaged wrist, "you alright?" Peter's voice was quiet and nervous. Remus gave a groggy smile, "peachy" was the reply as he moved to sit up.

There was a sudden breeze of clicking heels and motherly concern however and the room was brought back down to eath by an influx of a substance known soley as Madam Pomfrey, the school matron. She clucked her tongue at Remus as she withdrew her wand and gently tapped the wrist with her wand, a soft glow seemed to surround the broken joint for a tenth of a second before the light was gone and Madam Pomfrey smiled.

"You are a very lucky young man Mister Lupin" she tutted down at him. "Honestly, whatever got into that boy, knocking someone off of a broomstick! I wouldn't be surprised if he get's expelled" she shook her head with a frown before glaring menacingly when Remus went to unravel the bandages from his wrist.

"Don't you dare! I may have healed the bone but it will still be abit delicate for a few days, it's best you leave that bandage on. The skin will be very tender as well, wouldn't want you to break it all over again would we? Well now you're free to go". Remus who's head had seemed to clear abit gave a grin and slid out from under the covers looking for his shoes, "but I'm still not ruling out concussion. If you feel dizzy, or nauseous you come straight back here alright?".

Remus nodded his head as he pulled his shoes on, winking slightly at Sirius who was eyeing Madam Pomfrey like she was an overgrown mother hen. Remus straightened, "thankyou Madam Pomfrey" he called cheerfully as he led the others out of the Hospital Wing. 

Sirius suddenly smacked him on his shoulder frowning, "don't you ever bloody do that again mate, or I'll personally see to it that you get wrapped up in cotton wool". Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced toward James who was wearing an equally threatening expression, "I'll be the one wrapping you" he confirmed and Remus rubbed his face with a groan before glancing at Peter who looked just as determined.

"What was I supposed to do? I can't and don't want to understand the workings of those slimy Slytherin minds!" he exclaimed and James and Sirius' looks darkened, "well as for that...." they muttered. "Now that I think of it, what happened to Malfoy and Snapes wands, I know that Lily and Veronica caught them but..", Peter blinked in surprise, "I don't remember them giving them back.." he murmured quietly and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"D'you think they still have them?" Sirius inquired, suddenly excited by the prospect of having something over the pair of Slytherins heads. "Well..let's see" James said with a small grin, "besides, all the girls'll want to make sure Remy here's all better. They were all oh so worried", James batted his eyelashes at Remus who pulled a face at him.

Sirius threw an arm around Remus' shoulders, "oi Jim, none of that. I'm just glad Remus here's okay, however could we have pranked without him?". Remus gave a sniffy sigh, "that's all I am am I? Just someone who you need for pranking with?" Sirius grinned and winked at him, "and a pretty face" he added and Remus rolled his eyes.

"I do have to admit, I add shining beauty to an otherwise drab group" Remus commented patting his hair before winking at James while Sirius pretended to be offended. "Really! I compliment you and you turn around and call me bloody well drab" he ranted sniffily before raising his head and giving a crooked grin.

"Who's up for Slytherin Pranking tonight then?" he asked lazily and an affirmative nod was given in unison. "But we have detention". Those four words gave Remus an unpleasant queasey feeling in his stomach, "great...trust Binns to ruin our moment of triumph" he muttered. "We still have before dinner time" Peter spoke up and Sirius grinned.

"That's all we need Pete..because as it is I think I may have just found the entrance to the Slytherin commonroom...". James' eyes widened in glee, Remus stared mistily at Sirius and Peter gave a small squeak. "And for the Prank I have in mind we don't have to go into the common room..". "Pray do tell ol' chap" James murmured leaning on Sirius shoulder as he wiped his glasses.

"Well you see..it goes like this..".

*****

Dinner time came around and the Marauders were all near giddy, they lingered around the doorway to the great hall watching the students pass through before hurriedly claiming seats at the end of the Gryffindor table nearest the doorway. They wanted to see every moment of this as clearly as possible. The Gryffindor girls had all been exceptionally happy to see Remus and had swarmed into the seats around the Marauders so they could 'make sure he was alright'.

It turned out that Lily and Veronica had left Malfoy and Snapes wands up on the highest point of the astronomy tower for the Slytherins to collect after Remus had been carted off to the hospital wing. There was a murmur of surprise suddenly before giggling began to erupt, the Slytherins had arrived.

Each and every one of them sported a drastic new hairstyle, where there had been blacks, blonds, brunettes and redheads there was now a colony of..."Cabbage trees?". James turned to Sirius blinking, "Cabbage trees? I thought we decided on the blonde curly wigs...", Sirius shrugged, "I thought Cabbage Trees had that edge..." Remus was chuckling quietly at where the Head Boy was trying to transfigure his own Cabbage Tree back into his usual head of hair.

When Malfoy and Snape strutted inside, Cabbage Tree-less and in full splendour Sirius' expression soured and his eyes sharpened menacingly. They shot superior smirks toward the Gryffindor table before strutting toward the Slytherin table, Sirius growled beneath his breath and stood abruptly, James gripped his arm abruptly but found Sirius shaking it away. 

Remus frowned and dragged Sirius back into his seat with his good arm, "leave it Sirius, we can get them another time". They resumed their meals, with all but Peter with the 'comforting' thought of the detention to look forward to.

*****


	13. Bad Days, UWS's and Wrestling

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twelve: Bad Day

*

Sirius' fingers tapped rythmically across the desktop, his big-blue eyes were dull and glazed with absence of mind, Professor Flitwick was cheerfully announcing that they were ready to try another new charm, one that all four Marauders had found necessary to master three weeks prior.

This resulted in one, very bored Sirius with time on his hands. Remus beside him was scribbling on a piece of parchment, every now and then he'd bite at his lip before crossing out a line, or at points even an entire paragraph at before returning to scribbling frantically at the parchment.

James had found his own preoccupation with counting the UWS's (Unidentifiable Wall Splatters) while absently storing knowledge away that he never wanted to clean the roof of the Charms classroom. Peter was scratching into the desk with his quill, hiding what he was writing with his arm, every so often he would look up and do a sweep of the classroom before returning to his earlier activities.

All in all, two Marauders were acting very siftily indeed, and Sirius was near bursting to find out what it was all about. Not to mention the fact that Remus seemed to be muttering under his breath, and had been for the last half hour. "Oi...Jim" he hissed leaning back in his chair.

James blinked several times before cursing violently under his breath as his eyes left the cieling, "you made me lose count!" he accused with a glare. "Wh-what?" Sirius blinked in confusion at his friend, "I was counting the UWS's" he clarified and Sirius nodded, he had had experience with James' tendancy to count when he was bored. It had been Remus who had suggested James' move on from floor tiles and holes in the wall to something more interesting.

"Well, now that you've interrupted me. What did you want?" Sirius jabbed his finger in Remus' direction and James' face slid into a baffled expression, "you want Remus?" he asked blinking. Sirius smacked his head with his hand, "since when did you turn into an airhead Jim?" he groaned and James raised an eyebrow.

"Did you just call me an 'airhead'?". Sirius raised an eyebrow, "I believe I did" he replied a slight twitch of his lips threatening the grin that was doggedly trying to reveal itself. "You're goin' down Black" James growled and Sirius raised an eyebrow, "oh yeah? And who's gonna do it Potter?" he hissed back. James dove from his seat in one strangely fluid motion and knocked Sirius to the ground.

From there proceeded the wrestling match to end all Marauder Wrestling Matches'. The rest of the class looked on in baffled surprise as two of the Marauders duked it out on the ground, complete with fake grunts of pain. Joe suddenly stood up in his seat and gave a loud whoop of, "go Potter!". 

Locke stood up and gave a roar to counter Joes, "you can do it Black!". "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Remus echoed punching the air to emphasize each word. Sirius winced as James caught him in a headlock, "damn you Potter" he wheezed as an evil grin crossed his friends face. Sirius slid out of the headlock surprising James and promptly sat on James' back.

Pulling victory signs in the air James gave a slight groan. Professor Flitwick who had been trying to break through the circle of spectators gave a high pitched yelp of, "Black! Potter! Detention". Sirius gave a groan and James sighed and rubbed his head, "er..Siri...get offa me mate. You're heavier then you think". "Are you calling me fat Potter?".

James snorted, "hey you're the one filling in the blanks". Sirius stuck his tongue out and James pulled down the corner of his eye with a loud 'Nyah!'. Peter raised an eyebrow at his pair of friends before coughing loudly, "children.." he uttered and the pair immediately assumed apologetic pouts.

"Sorry Mother" they murmured in unison before catching each others eyes and grinning. Remus raised an eyebrow taking a step back warily, "you two are disturbingly alike" he muttered and recieved two identical grins. "Wanna make somethin' of it Lupin?" Sirius spoke up, James crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look tough while the tiny Professor Flitwick continued to shriek at them to stop disturbing his class.

"What if I do?" Remus replied cooly, a run of hand through his hair and a side-long glance of cool amber eyes. James smirked, "you're going down mate" he announced before diving on Remus. Sirius soon followed and another all out brawl began leaving a bewildered Peter to stare at the red-in-the-face Flitwick who was screeching his lungs out.

There was a sudden deafeningly loud screech of, "STOP IT!". All three Marauders paused in mid-brawl, James with his fist suspended inches from Sirius' stomach, Sirius was in the process of rubbing Remus' hair, while Remus was about to knee James in the gut. They slowly turned toward the red-faced Lily Evans who's eyes were flashing dangerously.

"You bloody Prats!" she snapped and all three exchanged glances, sheepishly all three stood, hanging their heads pathetically. In unison they all mumbled, "Sorry Mum". Her eyebrow twitched and she slapped Sirius, the one closest to her, over the head with a resounding smack. "Ouch!" he whimpered blinking at her through hurt blue eyes as he rubbed his forehead.

Remus patted him comfortingly on the back. "She was just saving you from getting beaten up Siri" he said loftily as he trailed after the tiny Professor Flitwick who was writing out their detention slips. Sirius spluttered his eyes shifting towards James who was grinning as he followed Remus to Flitwick's desk.

Professor Flitwick treated the three of them to a rant about fighting in class and the dangers of playing up in a room filled with magical objects. Peter was snickering quietly from his seat and went so far as to wave at James when he gave a helpless glance back at the rest of the class.

The smallest Marauder put on a large smile at the thought of being the only one 'not' in detention and continued to his scratching on the desk. At least his smile remained until Professor Flitwicks rant finished and he let out a yelp of, "Peter Pettigrew! Detention. I'd appreciate if you would stop defiling my desks!". James broke into snickers as the smallest members face fell and then began to burn a brilliant red.

Sighing he sauntered forward to pick up his detention slip. Muttering indiscretely at his friends as he sat down again and they beamed across at him angelically before resuming their pre-wrestling tasks. Sirius however was peering over Remus' shoulder, trying to see what the boy was writing.

Remus however was being increasingly difficult, in Sirius' opinion, quite deliberately. The crinkled piece of parchment always just obscured by an arm or another piece of parchment. Sirius stuck his bottom lip out and began to jab his friend in the arm, Remus glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, mouthing 'what?'.

Sirius nudged his arm in the direction of the parchment and Remus gave a small smile before shrugging and stuffing it into his pocket. Sirius pouted for all he was worth and was met with a mere grin and another shrug of the boys shoulders. The piercing ringing of a bell met their ears and the Marauders hurriedly packed away their parchment and textbooks.

Remus slung his bag over his back and sauntered out of the classroom hurriedly. He heard a yelp of, "Remy! Wait up" and panting as Sirius sprinted down the hall after him, Remus raised an eyebrow as his friend bent clutching his knees in the pretenses of catching his breath. Sirius suddenly lunged at him shoving him against the wall, Remus' eyes widened as Sirius shoved a hand in his pocket, grinning wildly as his hands closed around a certain piece of crinkled up parchment.

Producing it he took off down the hall leaving Remus to blink in confusion after him. Frowning Remus took off after his friend his eyes darting all over the hallway "Siri!" he yelled out in frustration. "Catch me if you can Remy!" was the call that carried back to him and Remus' face positively radiated.

There were come benefits of being a werewolf, unnatural speed was one of them. Another being his heightened sense of smell and hearing, and although he wasn't necessarily super-humanly strong, he knew instinctively the best way to bring someone down from behind. The wolf loved a chase.

Discarding his backpack on the floor he took off up the hall in the direction Sirius had gone. His eyes positively dancing as he burst through a tapestry, pausing uncertainly he glanced to either side of him, "ooooh Siri" he drawled slowly, his ears perking up as he waited for the response. "C'mon Remy, you'll have to go faster then that!" was the retort and Remus grinned taking off in the direction the voice had come from.

He caught a glimpse of jet black hair before Sirius whipped around another corner, the wolf was gaining on him. Remus grinned as he darted around the corner, yelping in surprise as he found Sirius standing perfectly still facing him with a grin. Both boys tumbled to the ground in a tangle of limbs, with Remus getting kneed in the jaw and Sirius head-butted in the stomach.

"Er..caught you?" Remus mumbled dazedly from where he lay half sprawled across Sirius' legs. Sirius gave a groan and rubbed his stomach, "geeze Remy. I feel like I just got charged down by one of those animals with the horns..mynossahurts?". Remus snorted with laughter as he picked himself up, "Rhinocerous Siri, Rhinocerous".

"Whatever" he moaned as he stood. Smiling triumphantly he began to unfold the piece of paper crumpled in his fist. Skimming his eyes over it he blinked, "this is...music?" he blinked down at the carefully constructed bars. Some crossed out, every now and then notes had been added underneath.

Remus was rubbing the back of his head glancing away from his friend who was studying the roughly scrawled lyrics beneath the guitar music. Sirius squinted at the writing, nothing like Remus' usual flowing script. He blinked up at Remus, "you write songs?" he asked blinking and Remus tinged slightly pink. "Er...actually Rom writes the music, I just write the lyrics for it". Sirius blinked at him.

"That's so cool!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed. Remus' face coloured again as Sirius looked on the verge of pouncing on him, "so that's what you were doing in Charms? You were writing a song?". Remus blinked at the excited state Sirius had become and backed slightly away, "yeah" he replied.

"Who sings these songs then?" he spoke up and Remus once more turned even darker, "me" he squeaked. Sirius suddenly grinned, "I knew you were musically talented" he announced proudly before thumping his friend on the back, "you gonna sing these songs for us then?" he asked peering at his friend who laughed nervously.

"I guess..." he mumbled and Sirius grinned widely. "Good" he promptly stuffed the peice of parchment back into Remus' hand and grabbed his friend around the shoulders, "how about getting us some lunch then" he proposed cheerfully as he steered his friend through a tapestry in the direction of the great hall.

*

Sirius slid into a seat firmly planting Remus down beside him and grinned across at James and Peter. "Remy writes songs" he announced proudly in greeting and Remus turned pink, James blinked at his friend upon finding out this news while Peter blinked. "Oh..so that's what all those sheets with notes scribbled on them are" he commented and Remus raised an eyebrow.

Sirius gave Peter an odd glance before shaking his head. "He's gonna sing 'em for us" he announced cheerfully as he began to butter a roll, "what's this?". Sally leaned in between James and Peter her eyes fixed on Sirius, "Remy's singing us his songs" Sirius summed up before taking a bite from his roll.

Sally fixed her gaze on Remus who was unsuccessfully trying to hide behind his goblet of pumpkin juice, "cool" she said with a shrug before dissapearing, leaving four puzzled boys to stare after her. "Cool?" James mumbled raising an eyebrow, Peter echoed him with an incredulous "COOL?".

James smacked the smallest Marauder over the head with a frown, "I already said that" he exclaimed and Peter grinned. "I know" was the calm reply, Sirius rolled his eyes and took another large bite out of his roll, tearing the chunk out like a dog and grinning at them with it proudly displayed between his teeth. Remus pulled a face at him, "you're a strange boy Sirius Black" he commented and Sirius began to chew on the bread furiously.

"A fact well documented mate" James spoke up cheerfully as he poked a spoon doubtfully at a strange looking casserole nobody had been game enough to try. "Strange.." he murmured as the glop splattered back into the casserole dish, Peter wrinkled his nose as Remus ceized the spoon and began to dollop it onto his plate.

James watched in horror as his friend began to devour the casserole without hesitation. "And you said Siri is crazy?" he choked out as Remus finished off his helping and flashed a grin at James, "It's good?" Remus said with a grin. "You're a strange boy Remus Lupin" Sirius spoke up sticking his tongue out and Remus snorted.

"Er Remy...one question. Where's your bag?" Peter piped up and Remus turned pale, letting out a groan he began to smack himself in the forehead. Sirius grabbed his arm blinking, "I left it in the corridor before I started chasing you" he moaned vaguely before standing. "I'm gonna go see if it's still there".

James stood abruptly, "I'll go with you" he offered snagging a second buttered roll from Sirius' plate before hurrying around the table and the pair left. Leaving Sirius to grumble as he buttered another bread roll and Peter to mutter about his detention filled night. James glanced over at his friend wiping the lenses of his glasses with his sleeves, "er..Remus?" he said slowly, blinking fuzzily at his friend before replacing his glasses.

"Yeah Jim?" was Remus' vague response as they trundled up the corridor. "I was wondering.." James paused, his fingers were now toying with the top clasp of his robes, "mmm?". "D'ya reckon Petes been acting strangely?". Remus blinked at his friend, "well..I suppose. He's been sleeping alot more then usual..and he's been talking to the girls more.." James nodded. "D'ya reckon he's angry with us?".

Remus blinked in surprise at his friend, "what'd he be angry with us for?" he spoke up blinking. James shrugged, "I dunno. It just seems like he doesn't hang around us as much anymore". Remus shrugged, "maybe Siri was right. Maybe he has got a girlfriend" James blinked at his friend, "I s'pose" he said with a disbelieving shrug.

"I just thought that he'd tell us y'know" James finished before Remus paused, giving a groan and began to bang his head against the wall. "What is it?" James said in surprise, blinking large brown eyes behind his glasses. "It's gone..my bags gone".

*

Sirius looked up as his two friends trudged back into the hall, bag-less and with a gloomy aura around them. Remus sank into his previous seat with a sigh, "it's gone" he mumbled gloomily. "My parents are going to kill me" he raked his hands through his hair with a pathetic sigh, "I'm an idiot for leaving it lying around like that" he muttered. Sirius clapped a hand to his shoulder, "it'll show up Remy, one of the teachers probably picked it up".

"Or Filch" Remus said gloomily. "In that case I'll never get it back" he slumped in his seat and stared absently at a plateful of rolls. James sighed, "cheer up Remy, it could be worse". Remus shook his head abruptly, "my parents'll do their nut when they find out." Sirius gave a weak smile, "Jamie's right Remy, we'll find it. After all, you have Detective Black on the case" he winked at his friend who let out a weak laugh.

James stepped up to play marvellously, "and Chief Inspector Potter to boot" he grinned at his friend. Peter smiled slightly, "better then Holme's and Watson" he commented. James had gotten Peter hooked onto a muggle comic version of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty side-kick Watson. James grinned and nodded his head, "you'll see Lupin. We'll find this troublesome bag if it's the last thing we do".

Sirius blinked, "well..not quite the last thing" he spoke up and Remus elbowed him in the ribs. "Er..alright alright! If it's the last thing we do!" Sirius yipped rubbing his rubs with a frown. Remus, looking decidedly alot more cheerful eyed Peter who had a small smile curled over his face. 

"Thanks guys" he said with a small smile and Sirius coughed before drawing out a piece of parchment and a quill, "anyone got any ink?" he asked blandly as he cleared a space on the table. Peter dug into his pocket before chucking a bottle of peacock-blue ink over the table to Sirius who grinned as he caught it before unscrewing the lid. 

"So Mister Lupin, what exactly does this bag look like?". Remus raised an eyebrow, "it looks exactly like it did this morning Siri" he groaned and Sirius furrowing his brow in concentration wrote down, 'looks exactly like it did this morning'. "Right, got it" he said with a grin and handed the piece of parchment to James, "this is what we've got to work with mate." James nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin between his fingers before he grinned.

"Wonderful description Remy. Leaves absolutely no room for the imagination...". Remus stuck his tongue out childishly before taking a swig of pumpkin juice from his goblet, "oh ha ha" he muttered. "Missing something Lupin?", Remus winced and turned his head with dread to meet Severus Snapes smirking face. "Yes actually Snape" he spoke up with a calm that didn't match his face.

Snape gave an odd little smile, "you might find that an admirer of yours has some idea where it is". Snape strode away, a satisfied smirk chiselled onto his face. Sirius gave a low growl as the Slytherin swept away, his robes billowing out behind him. "I'll be damned if you go near any of those Slytherins" Sirius muttered. Standing he beckoned to James before walking around to stand beside his friend, with a nod the pair strode purposefully toward the Slytherin table.

Side by side Sirius and James loomed up to the Slytherin table, their arms at their sides and their eyes flashing dangerously. "What do you want?" Malfoy sneered, his lip curling as he eyed the pair. "We have information that one of you knows exactly what we want" James spoke up cooly, a hard glint appearing in his eyes behind the frames of his glasses.

"Get lost Potter" was the sharp bored grate from Avery who was lazily eyeing them from where he'd been eating a thick sandwich. At his side a small enigmatic smile was on Lestranges face, Rosier was staring down at his plate avoiding the pairs gazes. "Well then, where is it Rosier?" Sirius spoke up sharply.

Evan Rosier lifted his head abruptly, his eyes shooting straight past the pair of Marauders toward the two that had been left behind. "Can't Lupin stick up for himself, or does he need his two big bad bodyguards to come and do it for him?" Avery spoke up again lazily, his eyes drifting towards his friend.

"We made sure he didn't come" James spoke up cooly, his eyes glittering furiously. "The last thing he needs is a bunch of perverted Slytherins snapping at his heels", Sirius nodded his head in confirmation. "I suggest you give it back now before things turn ugly. I learned some interesting new curses and I'm just dying to test them out" said Sirius, a nasty gleam taking over his brilliant blue eyes.

Malfoy gave a lazy smile before he said with a drawl, "are you suggesting a duel Black? I've never known anybody so eager to lose". Sirius' eyes glittered cooly. "What makes you so sure I'd lose?" he replied with a hint of anger tinging his voice. James rested a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"Listen, if you don't give it back I'm going to-". "Siri.." Sirius blinked and turned to watch the arrival of Remus, he looked tired and irritated. Stepping around Sirius and James he crossed his arms over his chest, "just give it back" he said shortly. "So Lupin decided to show up after all" Malfoy tittered raising an eyebrow.

"Sod off Malfoy" was the strained reply. "What do we get out of giving it back?", Rosier finally spoke up. His eyes darting nervously as a blush stained his cheeks pink, "nothing" was the flat sharp reply. From infront of him Damien Wilkes gave a small snort, "then you aren't getting it back" was the calm reply.

Sirius growled deep in his throat, James steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. "I suggest you give it back Rosier, or this will get ugly" James spoke up with a definite hint of anger tinging the edge of his words. Remus clenched his fists, "what do you want" he spoke up sharply, startling his friends and earning several smirks from the Slytherins.

Avery nudged Rosier whose cheeks were now burning bright red. "I-I" he began and Sirius cut him off sharply, "don't even think it" he snapped. James nodded stonily, "who's making the bargains here?" Malfoy spoke up cooly his eyes glittering with faint amusement.

Remus crossed his arms over his chest, "well?". "A date" Rosier finally spoke up, having gained his nerve. Sirius began to splutter angrily his eyes flashing before Remus set his jaw, "deal" he muttered. Sirius' jaw dropped and James raised an eyebrow, "meet me in the entrance hall..tonight before dinner."

"My bag?" Remus spoke up sharply and Avery gave a nasty little smile, "you'll get it when you're part of the deal is over". Remus set his jaw before turning and sweeping away, leaving Sirius and James to exchange glances before hurrying after their friend who had left directly out of the hall. Peter glanced up in surprise as he found his friends had deserted him and pulled a face before sliding down the table to talk to Joe and Locke.

*

They found Remus sitting cross-legged on his bed, his shoes lying haphazardly on the floor, he looked positively miserable as he ran his eyes over a certain peice of wrinkled parchment. "Remy.." James spoke up sitting down after kicking his own shoes off and folding his legs, Sirius followed suit. Remus raised his eyes toward them solemnly, "I didn't want to you know" he spoke up softly, James nodded his head. "We know" he murmured quietly.

"Wheres Pete?" he asked quietly. Sirius blinked, "he must be still eating lunch" he murmured vaguely. James sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "you don't have to Remy" he said finally. "Yeah, I do" was the solemn reply. Sirius sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "how about you play us one of these songs then?" he spoke up.

Remus sighed and unfolded his legs, leaning over the edge of his bed he began to rummage around underneath it, leaving Sirius and James puzzled. The door creaked open and Peter peeked inside, upon seeing them he started inside his eyes wide with curiosity. "What happened?" he murmured. "I heard the Slytherins talking about Remus agreeing to go on a date with Rosier". Sirius nodded his head and Peter's eyes widened as he hurried over and settled down on the bed.

Remus re-emerged with an acoustic guitar in his hands. A pick was stuck between the strings and a weaved string was tied around the neck of the guitar. Setting it on the bed before himself, he once more began rummaging under his bed, finally producing a pile of rumpled pieces of parchment.

He set them on the bed before re-folding his legs and begginning to sift through the pile. He was quiet as he finally decided on a song, setting the sheets out infront of him he bundled the others back up and stuck them in a pile at his side, setting the guitar over his knees he strummed the chords lightly.

"I'm still working on it" he began uncertainly, his eyes lowered back to the paper and he cleared his throat before begginning to strum the guitar. The soft acoustic rythm was repetitive and barely altered, he gave a vague smile before he began to sing over the music, his voice seeming a great deal stronger then it usually did when he was singing.

A mournful edge to his voice added to the emotion-filled song. The guitar work was simple, leaving Remus' voice to bring out the real tune of the song. "They painted up your secrets, with the lies they told to you. And the least they ever gave you, was the most you ever knew. And I wonder where these dreams go, when the world gets in your way. What's the point in all this screaming, no-ones listening anyway." 

"Your voice is small and fading, when you're hiding here unknown. And your mother loves your father, cause she's got nowhere to go. And she wonders where these dreams go, cause the world got in her way. What's the point in ever trying, nothings changing anyway."

Sirius stared at Remus, how his friend could sing yet play the guitar so flawlessly was beyond his comprehension. "They press their lips against you, with the loving lies they say. And they tried so hard to reach you, but you're falling anyway. And you know I see right through you, cause the world gets in your way. What's the point in all this screaming, they're not listening anyway." The song ended with a soft strum of the guitar and Remus raised his head as he carefully shuffled the sheets back into the pile.

"Woah Remy.." Sirius whispered his eyes wide. James nodded his head his glasses sliding down his nose, "that was awesome" he murmured. Peter was bobbing his head so fast that Remus' was sure it was going to fall off. Sirius grinned, "you've got talent my friend" he spoke up finally able to make a comprehensive sentence.

Sirius reached for the pile of songs and began to sort through them, titles catching his eyes. Countless songs and lyrics were written before him on sheets upon sheets of paper, his eyes lifted toward Remus blinking. "My parents brought me my guitar when I was five. They didn't really think it was a good idea for me to play with other children, so they tried to keep me busy with other things".

Sirius stared at the sheets, "and you're brother helped you with all of this?" Remus nodded. "He wrote all of the music" he repeated thumbing several chords before setting his guitar down with a sigh. Sirius' eyes danced over the music, "you can play all of these songs?" he murmured in a daze and Remus nodded. Sirius glanced up hopefully, "can you play that song that you were writing today?".

Remus frowned and pulled the parchment from his pocket, "it's for my brother" he murmured as he smoothed it out. "I'm not finished it yet" he announced again as he picked up his guitar again and rested it in his arms, he slid the pick from it's resting place and begin to pluck out the beat. This was more complex then the other, his voice was softer, more casual this time "I am driving up 85 in the, Kind of morning that lasts all afternoon, just stuck inside the gloom." 

"Four more exits to my apartment but, I am tempted to keep the car in drive, And leave it all behind" the fancy guitar background didn't take away from his soft voice. It came out calm and gentle.

"Cause I wonder sometimes, About the outcome, Of a still verdictless life. Am I living it right? Am I living it right? Am I living it right? Why Georgia, why?" he broke off with a small smile. "That's as far as I got" he murmured quietly. Sirius grinned, "I like it" he announced and Remus gave a small smile.

"If you guys don't mind I think i'll skip Transfiguration" he said quietly. Sirius nodded, "maybe we should stay with you" he spoke up, Remus shook his head. "Mcgonagall will kill you all if you miss another class, I think I might just hang out in the common room and work on my song. It's more comfortable down there". James nodded, "alright Remy, we'll come back before Defense to come and get you". 

Remus nodded before picking up the piece of parchment and carrying his guitar underneath his arm followed them down into the common room. They let him settle himself on one of the squashy armchairs before waving him goodbye and trooping out into the corridor to their Transfiguration lesson.

Leaning over his guitar he strummed through the first few verses until he came to the second verse. Frowning as he strummed through the chords his brother had chosen he thought, opening his mouth to try the first idea, "I rent a room and I, fill the spaces with.." he paused with a frown. This was going nowhere fast.

"I rent a room and I, fill the spaces with..wood in places to make it feel like home.. But all I feel's alone". Satisfied he gave a vague smile before scribbling it down under the first few bars of the second verse. The portrait hole opened and he paused glancing up from his writing to where the red-head had dashed inside her eyes streaming with tears and looking about as miserable as he felt.

She stopped abruptly upon seeing him and stared at him with wide green eyes, "R-remus?" she stammered blinking at him as she wiped her face of tears with the back of her sleeve and sniffed loudly. He gave a weak smile, "what's wrong?".

She shuffled on her feet, "i-it's stupid really. Y-you'll just think I'm being an Idiot.." Remus blinked and gave a vague smile. "Try me" he replied quietly. She sniffed and walked over, perching on the arm of a sofa beside Remus' armchair. "M-malfoy and Snape, they were..calling me names" she sniffed again and Remus' face soured.

"Well they're Malfoy and Snape. They have nothing better to do" he said with a small smile, Lily shook her head. "It-it's not that. I can handle Malfoy and Snape b-but Sally said that she thought that they were right". Remus' eyes widened slightly, "well then Sally's an idiot isn't she?" he said with a small smile and Lily wiped her eyes again giving him a smile that clearly said 'thankyou'.

"Why are you in here?" she asked quietly as she curled up in the corner of the sofa, "I didn't much feel like going to class" he replied quietly. "Slytherin business" he finished and she nodded slightly, she decided to drop the subject and instead glanced over at him. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously sniffing again.

"I'm trying to finish writing a song, i'm not having much luck with it though" he gave a slight shrug. "Can I hear it?" she asked pleadingly and he gave a small smile, "how about another one?" he asked quietly and she nodded, "I know just the one too" he murmured with a faint trace of irony tilting his lips.

He sifted through the pile before setting one piece of parchment apart, setting it up he glanced at her, "this isn't really meant for an accoustic guitar" he explained lightly. He strummed lightly on the guitar before begginning to sing along with it.

"Had a bad day again, She said I would not understand. She left a note and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day again". She spilled her coffee, broke her shoelace. Smeared the lipstick on her face, Slammed the door and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day again"". 

"And she swears there's nothing wrong, I hear her playing that same old song, She puts me off and puts me on. And had a bad day again She said I would not understand Left a note and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day again"". The music picked up slightly, Lily stared at him quietly as he played the guitar. The one stressed word coming out "No...".

"And she swears there's nothing wrong, I hear her playing that same old song, She puts me off and puts me on. Oh and had a bad day again, She said I would not understand She left a note and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day...again" She left a note and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day..." Ahh...ah ah...ahh...ah ah...alright Oooh...ooh ooh Ohhh...oh ohh...".

As the song came to finish she smiled at him still rubbing her eyes, "thanks Remus" she murmured before wrapping her arms around her knees. "That was amazing" she added resting her chin on her knees, she blinked at him through large green eyes and watched him carefully pluck out another tune with the pick.

He was barely humming under his breath along with the music. It was more probable he was practising then anything. He glanced up upon finding her watching him and began to sing again, this time the song he was still working on. 

"I am driving up 85 in the, Kind of morning that lasts all afternoon, just stuck inside the gloom. Four more exits to my apartment but, I am tempted to keep the car in drive, And leave it all behind. Cause I wonder sometimes, About the outcome, Of a still verdictless life. Am I living it right? Am I living it right? Am I living it right? Why Georgia, why?" he began to strum heavily before continuuing on with the new lyrics he'd written minutes before, finding them suiting to his satisfaction.

"I rent a room and I, fill the spaces with..wood in places to make it feel like home.. But all I feel's alone. It might be a quarter life crisis or..." he frowned as he trailed off again and scribbled down the new addition on the piece of parchment. He glanced up at Lily who was still watching him quietly, he set his guitar aside finally and spoke up.

"Didn't any of the others say anything, I mean when Sally said what she did?". Lily shook her head violently, "you know what Sally's like" she murmured quietly, "if she thinks something then no-one elses opinion means anything". Remus gave a sigh, "well if she's going to be like that then you don't need her" he said with a sad smile and Lily sniffed again.

"Thankyou Remus" she murmured. He shrugged slightly, "no problem, that's what I'm here for right?" he gave a small swift smile before folding up the crinkled piece of parchment and sticking it back into his pocket. "I'll have to work on it later" he said with an air of casuality before he handed her the pile of papers, "you pick one" he said plainly and she gave a smile as she took the pile and begin to sift through them.

*

James, Sirius and Peter returned to the common room to find Lily curled up on the sofa closest to Remus' chair giggling as she sorted through the many sheets of music. Remus was starting what seemed to be an accoustic re-endition of 'Knock three times'.

"hey girl whatcha doing down there, dancing alone every night, while I live right above you. I can hear your music playin', I can feel your body swayin', one floor below me you don't even know me, I love you"

"Oh my darlin', knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe if the answer is no, oh my sweetness, means you'll meet me in the hallway, twice on the pipe means you ain't gonna show". He paused abruptly as he found three puzzled expressions on his face and gave a sheepish grin, Lily beamed at the three other Marauders. "Remus is cheering me up" she announced brightly as she handed him back the stack of papers.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "is he now?" he murmured and Remus rolled his eyes. "Is it time for Defense?" he asked lightly and Sirius nodded, Remus gave a sigh before packing up his guitar and papers and dashing upstairs. The others watched as he returned and Lily stood quietly smoothing wrinkles from her robes.

Sirius grinned at the red-head, "yeah, Remy already has his own groupie". Lily smiled brightly, "I'm a groupie now? I'm honoured" Sirius beamed and slung an arm around her shoulders, "you should be. Remys a very talented young man". Lily gave a weak laugh and rubbed at her eyes again as Remus came clattering down the stairs again, tucking a spare quill and bottle of ink into his pocket.

"Lets go then" James spoke up finally as the group of Gryffindors dissapeared out of the portrait hole. 

*

There was a reason why Remus' favourite subject was Defense against Dark Arts. The fact that he excelled at the subject was only a minor detail. However even with his favourite subject facing him Remus couldn't help but dread the coming afternoon as he trudged into the classroom and took a seat beside Sirius.

James flashed him an encouraging smile from where he sat, "don't worry about Remy" he hissed quietly as the Professor swept inside, a strained smile fixed on his lips. "Welcome children" he said with a weary grin before leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up ontop of the desk.

"I'm going to give you a little quiz to start off with" he announced lazily. Remus borrowed a piece of parchment from Sirius and began to answer the questions that their teacher was reciting. Professor Moore seemed to tire of his 'quiz' after the first seven questions and waved it off, "answers" he called out. 

"Number one Mister Black", Sirius started out of his chair blinking around himself. "Er.." he began and recieved a roll of eyes from the Professor, "wake up Black" he said with a groan. "How about Mister Pettigrew then?". Peter blinked in surprise, "er...Grindylows?". "Well done, 0 points for Gryffindor..Miss Evans number two?". 

"Erm..the Boogey Man?". "Fantastically...WRONG. How about Mister Hahm?", "ah...". "Nevermind Wingnut, the answer is the Boggart. Lupin number three?". Remus blinked while Joe turned a furious pink before Remus answered carefully, "Cornish Pixies?". "Aah so we do have an IQ level in here, well done Mister Lupin. Miss Mcgregor, Number five?". 

"Umm...". "Does this look like a cheerleading convention Miss Mcgregor? What about you Miss Baker". Jamie hid a smile behind her hand before offering, "garlic". "Well done, Mister Potter number six". James rubbed his glasses, "the Sphinx?". "Go back to sleep Potter, what about you O'connor".

"Don't even bother Muppet..The answer is twenty kilometers and for our last question, Miss Bones?". Veronica lifted her head from where she'd been studying a copy of Witch Weekly, "South?" she supplied weakly. "Well spank me with a wet lettuce if that wasn't the worst answer I've heard all day. Any ideas now that you've woken up Mister Black?", "purple?".

"You're a legend in your own bathrobe Black" was the distressed sigh from Professor Moore as he shook his head. His shortly cropped dark curls shaking, his plain charcoal robes hanging loose around his neck. He stood and shook his head, "well if that wasn't pathetic I don't know what is. Other then Mister Pettigrews lack of hair-colour that is.." Peter turned pink and glanced at his friends who were shaking their heads.

Professor Moore was the strangest Professor they had ever come across, he seemed to only survive the day by making sarcastic comments and making up absurd sayings, all in all it made for a very entertaining class. He grinned slightly pointing his wand lazily at a rubbish bin, "accio" he said in boredom and the bin zoomed toward him before landing with a thud ontop of his desk.

"Everybody screw up a piece of parchment and form a line down the middle of the room". The students cast questioning looks at each other and he groaned, "you bunch of noddys just do it!". The students complied with Sirius muttering something about 'loco'. They formed a single line and Professor Moore swept his wand through the air forming a table with three columns.

One read in sparkling letters, 'London and Beyond'. Another clearly stated, 'Ireland and Scotland'. The final column was titled, 'Middle of Nowhere and Beyond'. He gave a satisfactory grin, "your job is to get as many pieces of parchment into the bin for your area. I am well aware Lupin that you are the only ridiculously French person here...No that doesn't change the fact that you have a column all to yourself..".

Remus raised an eyebrow as Sirius, James and Peter grinned at each other. All three fell into the 'London and Beyond' category. Veronica who had made her way to the front of the line blinked at it. Moore gave her an evil grin and waggled his eyebrows childishly, "swing batter batter batter, miss batter batter batter". Letting out a haughty sigh she in a very girlish throw chucked the parchment which bounced off of the edge of his desk and fell to the ground.

"Pathetic Bones!" Professor Moore crowed loudly and James turned toward Remus with a raised eyebrow. "Off his rocker" he declared with finality which made them nod in agreement. Sally threw her own piece with little enthusiasm and got much the same result as Veronica.

"Get lost Mcgregor" Moore declared gleefully. Locke threw his parchment with careful precision and grinned as it fell straight into the middle of the trashcan, "-1 point for Scotland!" Professor Moore declared with an evil grin. Lockes face fell and he gave him an appalled look, "-b-but". "Never did like the Scottish..back of the line O'connor".

Locke stared at the Professor as though he were crazy before trudging to the back of the line, Sirius found himself at the front of the line and aimed boredly with a flick of his wrist it hit the rim of the bin before landing precisely in the middle. "Because it's you Black that's minus -12 points for the London crowd". Sirius' jaw dropped before he stuck his tongue out at the Professor who repeated the action in full childish-ness.

James found himself after Sirius and lazily threw his piece dead inside, "SA-WISH!" he crowed loudly and Professor Moore shrugged. "10 points for the London Crowd for Sound Effects". James rose his arms in victory before high-fiving the Professor as he passed. 

Peter gave a sigh before he chucked his off-handedly, with 'coincidental' luck it smacked the Professor in the forehead dead-centre, rebounded and landed beside the rubbish-bin. A loud cheer erupted from the students and the Professor stared blinking at Peter, "no back-board shots Pettigrew! -22 points for the Londoners". Remus stepped forward giving a slight grimace as he lazily chucked the parchment over his shoulder on his way toward the back of the line.

There was a whoop from Sirius and he blinked in surprise as he found it had gone in, "10 pity-points for the French Boy" Moore called out and Remus grinned. If only all his classes were this much fun.

*

After the excitement of the Defense lesson Remus had almost forgotten his arrangements for the night, as he trailed up toward Gryffindor tower he gave a moan and James gave him an apologetic smile, "maybe you can get your bag off him early and just leave?" Sirius suggested and Remus gave a sigh, "miracles do happen.." he mumbled.

As they crawled through the portrait hall and filed up into the dorm he hurriedly unclasped his robes and tossed them aside. Pulling the tie away with a grimace he chucked it lazily on his bed before sifting through his trunk, smiling as he found his favourite clothes he began to toss his uniform aside.

Buttoning up his worn blue-jean bellbottoms and pulling a dark tan t-shirt over his head, the front was splashed with grafitti-like writing, proclaiming 'Hendrix was Here'. On the back a large black scrawl could be faintly made out as.."IS THAT SIGNED?"

Remus yelped as Sirius and James pounced on him as one, their eyes frantically reading over the signature. "N-no" he yelped, "my brother got me the signaturel..". Sirius and James let out collective dreamy sighs leaving a very confused Peter to stare at them, Remus gave a depressed sigh. 

"Well..I guess I better go" he pulled a face as he pulled on a pair of sneakers and trudged out of the dorm, Sirius, Peter and James exchanged looks before they took off after him. "Wait up! We'll walk with you" James yelped as he slid down the bannister and landed with a thud at the end.

*

A/N: The songs used in this chapter, like all the others, don't belong to me =D They are as follows, in order of appearance, the first song that Remus sings name escapes me right now but it's by the Goo Goo Dolls. The second one is 'Why Georgia' by John Mayer. The third song that Remus sings to Lily is 'Bad Day' by Fuel. Woo! And the last song that he sings is Knock Three Times XD. Anyways, Poor Remy's goin' on a date with a Sifty Slytherin. Pity the Frenchman @_@; The Defense Teacher Professor Moore is based loosely on my old Social Studies teacher who truly was that crazy, most of the sayings and names he called people in this chapter were true to my teacher and the game we actually did @_@;; Eheh. Random.


	14. Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirteen: Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

A/n: Thanky'all for Reviewing ^-^; Er I forgot to mention in my last update that a Cabbage tree is infact like a palm tree, it's not a tree..it's not a bush.. it's a random inbetweener o_o;;. Yeeeeha anyways. War Sucks. Let Peace Prevail WAI WAI WAI o-o;; Yea I'm random. Yea I'm crazy. And I don't own any of the following. Except possibly the pranking bible and any Pranks included in said Bible. Oooh and Jamsies purple cat. Thaz mine too. ^_^ On with the show.

*****

James Potter paused in the doorway as the wooden door silently creaked open, his eyes travelled over the six four-poster beds lined up against the wall. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose before stepping into the dormitory, his eyes travelling toward where Sirius had paused behind him. As he had suspected the curtains to Remus' four-poster were firmly dragged shut.

It was however far from silent in the dorm, the plucking of guitar strings and several mumbles, only briefly muffled by the thick velvet hangings escaped into the otherwise deathly still air. Sirius paused behind his friend, peering over James shoulder as he leaned on Peters shoulder.

They heard a gruff fit of cursing before Remus' guitar went sailing through the curtains and landed roughly against Sirius' neighbouring bed. James stared dumb-founded at the direction that the guitar had came from. Cautiously he shuffled forwards, Sirius and Peter shadowing his movements.

James reached out for the hangings, gently drawing them aside and peering inside, a mess of papers was strewn over the bed with Remus lying flat-faced in his pillows. "Remy.." Sirius mumbled nervously, the werewolf had apparently gone deaf as he didn't choose to reply or acknowledge the fact that Sirius had spoken at all.

James reached cautiously out and put a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Sod off" was the low irritable growl, "Remy..." Sirius tried again. "I said sod off" was the sharp unnaturally high-pitched reply. "No" James replied cooly, perching on the end of Remus' bed stubbornly and acknowledging the others do the same.

"Oooh Sit-in" Sirius exclaimed before flopping down beside the tangle-haired Potter and begginning to gather up the sheets of parchment. Peter scrambled to get the guitar before seating himself on the other side of James his eyes on the were-wolf who had yet to move an inch.

"Get it through your thick heads" Remus snapped irritably as he sat up and turned blood-shot eyes on them, "I want to be left alone". "Right, and we're staying with you" Sirius replied with a nochalant shrug and a would-be-winning smile. "Just tell us what happened" James said cooly as he punched Sirius in the arm.

Remus ran his hands through his mop of hair and let out a very un-convincing, "nothing". "Doesn't look like nothing" Peter spoke up quietly for the first time hugging his knees while eyeing his friend daringly. "He didn't give it back alright?" was the short unwelcome snarl from their friends as he snatched at the pile of music sheets by his side.

Sirius blinked at his friend, "why? I mean..I thought you had a deal right?". James snorted, "first rule of Hogwarts Siri, never trust a slytherin" he grumbled. "He said that if I want it back then I'm supposed to go on another date with him" the werewolf mumbled back running his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

"Why don't you just tell your parents-". Remus began to shake his head violently mumbling, "they'd do their nuts". Sirius sighed and moved from his position to sit on the opposite end of the bed beside Remus, resting an arm on his friends shoulder he gave a small smile. "Don't worry about your bag Remy, it'll be sorted inside the hour".

Remus glanced at his friend raising an eyebrow at the plotting grin that had taken over his friends face, "besides. I needed to head over to pay the Slytherins a visit anyway, still haven't gotten revenge on Malfoy and Snape have I?" Sirius added at the look he was getting from Remus.

"Besides Remy my lad, we can't let them have anything that's remotely Gryffindor-ish can we?". Remus cracked a smile, "absolutely not" he replied weakly and Sirius nodded. "That's the ticket Rem, now Jamsie my boy. Hand me the bible" James fished around inside his robes for a few minutes before producing a slightly more worn looking black book.

Now having attained a large scorch mark and several water stains. Sirius flipped the book open and ummed and aahed as he thumbed through the pages, passing straight past the pranks that were marked with a stamp of, 'accomplished'. 

James snatched the bible back his eyes gleaming behind his glasses before he flipped at great speeds through the pages, ignoring the glare that Sirius was sending at him. "Prank #357" he said to Sirius frown which immediately was replaced with a cunning grin as his friend frantically searched through the book. 

"Aah here it is. The Winter Wonderland" he announced grinning at his friends. Remus struggled to remember exactly what the Winter Wonderland entitled while Peter showing no such grace merely stared baffled at his friends. How Sirius and James remembered ever single Prank by number had been beyond Remus' comprehension, which was why they had begun to title the pranks. However, even this new system didn't help at all.

James scanned through the list of required items and nodded his head, "we've got all the supplies we need I think, just need to brush up on frost-bitten charm and non-melting snowball hex and we'll be set". Sirius nodded brightly as he bounded off of Remus' bed and began to rummage through his own trunk.

They all ducked as boxers, socks and random objects streaked through the air, with James barely catching a pair of socks before they pelted him in the face. "Damnit Siri, you have to watch where you throw stuff" the Potter boy complained loudly until Sirius produced a brown paper bag with a grin.

Rummaging through it he produced several yards of cotton and a can of spray paint. Perfectly content he grinned at his friends, "time check Petey?" he announced. Peter pulled back the long sleeves of his robes to reveal a plain watch, "9.47pm" he announced and Sirius nodded. 

"Good, it should take us around half an hour to find the Slytherin Commonroom, from there we produce incredibally obvious Slytherin password, by this time Luff will have ordered said Slytherins into their beds. Under cover of Jamesies' invisibility cloak we rig Slytherin Dorms by guide of Prank #357 a.k.a Winter Wonderland. Pete keeps watch outside the Slytherin Commonroom in suitable hiding place. While Remy uses fake snow - " at this he chucked, what they had presumed to be spray paint toward the werewolf who caught it blinking. " - To tag the Slytherins Commonroom with exactly who they owe their gratitude to".

All four Marauders nodded their silent confirmation before they scrambled to their feet and began to hurry around gathering the needed supplies. As one they were covered under the Invisibility Cloak and they trudged out of the Gryffindor Common Room, in search of the Snakes Pit.

*****

Sirius snickered as he carefully set a triggering spell on the un-melting snowballs that hovered inside the green hangings of Severus Snapes four-poster bed. James was positively giggling as he sprayed shaving cream over Lucius Malfoy's hands before setting a 'wake-up-call' with a useful little charm they'd discovered in one of Flitwick's private collection of Charms books.

The floor was already begginning to build up as Snowflakes drifted from the cieling. As Sirius finished setting up the snowballs he calmly nodded at James who began to help him lug several trunks out of the dorm and into the common room. There they found Remus having a great deal of fun displaying his artistic flare.

The feature wall of the common room, which usually displayed the 'proud' Slytherin banner was now glistening with the fake snow. The banner was completely unrecogniseable as the silver serpant now strangely resembled a snow man. Remus was just finishing up his final touch of decor, in giant writing which stretched the entire length of the wall was scrawled in taggers style, 'Courtesy of your local Marauders'.

All around the room were very Gryffindor-esque slogans, in which Remus had had fun charming the snow to flash red and gold.

'Lions for the Cup' was brandished proudly over the cieling, though neither Sirius or James could fathom just how Remus managed to get it there. The pair dumped the Slytherins trunks out in the common room, smiling broadly as they flipped them open and in true Sirius fashion began to strew them over the Common room floor.

In one last finishing touch Sirius added some more snow-fall to the Common room before closing the exit to the Common room with a wide grin. Peter emerged from the shadows his eyes glittering with excitement, "you did it?" he whispered and the other three nodded. Once more under the cover of James' invisibility cloak the four excited Gryffindors stole away back to the Lions Den, knowing quite sure that all hell would break loose when morning showed its face.

*****

Severus Snape wasn't accustomed to waking up to the sound of jangling bells. It was indeed a strange occurance that the second he let out a moan something very cold, very mushy, and very wet slapped him in the face. 

The bells continued and as he sat up more yells of surprise and anger came from his fellow dorm-mates. Another mushy slap in the face came and he lifted a hand in confusion to wipe the cold residue from his face. He watched the white ice-like mixture melt in his hands, "..snow?" he mumbled blinking as another snowball pelted him in the face.

As loud, unbearably christmas-esque music began to blare from the walls he ripped back his curtains and was met by an amazing sight. When he had gone to bed the previous night his dormitory had been normal, filled with the usual eleven-year old boy clutter. Now however the entire surface of the room was covered in three-feet deep glistening white snow.

"Shit!" he cursed as his barefeet brushed the freezing cold and he was pelted in the back of the head by another snowball. 'Sleighbells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonder-land. Run away has the blue-bird, here to stay, is the newbird. He sings a love song, as we go along walking in a wint-'. "WILL SOMEONE STOP THAT RUDDY MUSIC!".

Averys voice cut over the booming music, fumbling under layers of the white freezing snow for his wand Severus shuddered. Closing his now numb fingers around the wood he yelped, "finite incantenum!". The music screeched to a halt along with the infernal bells, the remaining snowballs fell with a splat over their respective targets heads and the snowflakes ceased falling.

"It's bloody freezing" Darius Avery grumbled before tearing back his covers and letting out a curse as he blindly stumbled righ tonto the three foot deep freezing cold snow. Malfoy had by now seen the snow and was growling as he wiped melted snow from his face. "Damned Gryffindors" he muttered distastefully as he looked around at the snow that covered every surface of the dormitory.

He stood up on his bed, frowning as the other Slytherins pulled their hangings back. Crawling to the end of his bed he blinked in surprise, "they've taken the trunks as well" he growled and Snape let out a groan. Leaping from his bed as far as he could get before he dashed through the snow toward the door and landed on the brief relief from the numbing cold of the snow-covered floor.

He stared down at the common room with a moan upon finding even more snow covered the dungeons floor. Not to mention the large Gryffindor-esque signs that were scrawled over all four walls and even the roof. But possibly the worst thing of all was the fact that strewn all over the dungeon was the contents of the first years trunks.

"POTTER! LUPIN! BLACK! PETTIGREW!". 

*****

Four very warm, very happily rested Gryffindors huddled under the invisibility cloak. Grinning ear to ear as they stared at the opening of the Slytherin Commonroom. Professor Luff had already been and gone, muttering savagely about finding 'those damned Gryffindors'. The four Marauders however were quite content to spend the early hours of Saturday morning, listening to the rucus they had created inside the Slytherin domain.

It was all they could do to keep from laughing at the top of their lungs everytime they heard angry yelling. While a good deal of the older Slytherins had already left the common room to escape the wrath of the very mad Slytheirn first year boys, some had chosen to hang around and watch with amusement as the boys plucked through the knee deep snow in hopes of finding their belongings.

After half an' hour of watching such activities the Marauders decided it was about time to head off to the pre-planned retreat of Hogsmeade for a nice butterbeer and some celebratory sweets from Honeydukes.

That was how four very content Marauders found themselves clustered around a table in the remotest corner of The Three Broomsticks, surrounded by packaging of Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizzbees and Licorische Wands with several half full tankards of Butterbeer set around the table.

Their eyes intent upon the parchment set in the middle of them. "No no no Siri! That passage runs in behind the Charms classroom and comes out on the other side of the second corridor on the third floor, you know. Beside that suit of armour" Sirius pulled a face before carefully erasing the line from the parchment with his wand and drawing it back in with his quill.

"Yeah, that's it" James replied happily. Remus smiled as he took another long swig of the warming butterbeer and grinned, "don't forget the passage behind the mirror in the fourth corridor...that's the first one we ever found remember?". Sirius beamed, "yeah." he murmured dreamily and was met with several dreamy sighs.

Sirius lazily began to sketch in the caretakers hut on the border of the Forbidden Forest before handing the quill to Remus to label in cursive exquisite writing, 'Hagrid's Hut'.

"What're you working on there boys?". All four Marauders immediately made a grab for the map before James who was the fastest slid it out of reach and gave an innocent grin up at the bar-maid. One Madam Rosmerta gave an amused smile before shaking her head, "honestly. You'd think that if I didn't tell the Professors that four 'first years' are visiting Hogsmeade then I would be trustworthy wouldn't I?".

"First years? Where?" Sirius said blinking casting large blue eyes around the bar intently and Rosmerta let out a chuckle. "Where indeed Mister Black" she murmured shaking her head before James attempted to bat long dark eye-lashes at her from behind his glasses. "How could you suggest that we honourable... so obviously smashing, gentlemen, illegally visit Hogsmeade..".

She smiled and shook her head in amusement, "well perhaps I'd be a good deal more convinced you gentlemen weren't involved in rule-breaking affairs if it were true". Remus grinned slightly, "she's got us there" he commented and the others sighed. "You will be the downfall of us Madam Rosmerta" Sirius said with a sigh shaking his head.

"To true Siri, to true" James said with a shake of his head. "Maybe I could be convinced into keeping your secret. I've heard you four are quite the entertainers". Sirius nodded his head urging her to continue, "you have one chance. If the customers are interested then you might just get called back, I might even pay you" she said with a slight wink.

Sirius grinned and grabbed Remus' arm. "Well Remy, go on Mister Entertainer.." Remus blinked in surprise. "Hold on a second Siri.." he began before Sirius stuffed his fingers in his ears and begin to yell loudly, "lalalalalal I CANT HEAR YOU!".

Remus sent him a haughty frown, "you're the one with the good voice" he grumbled and Peter gave a grin. "Oh go on Remy" Sirius said delivering a pout as he diverted from his childish tactics and James raised an eyebrow. "Siri, you can help" he announced cheerfully.

Sirius sighed and shook his head, "the things I do.." he murmured dramatically before standing and dragging Remus with him. "You got a piano Rosmerta?" he inquired lightly. The woman raised an eyebrow, "behind the platform over there..". Sirius nodded before dragging Remus toward the small platform.

"You can play the piano right Remy?" he said airily not bothering to watch as Remus nodded. The pair dissapeared for several minutes behind the platform, just as James was starting to speak up his suspicions that they'd made a bolt for it the pair reappeared, grunting and red-faced as they pushed a large piano up the ramp and onto the platform.

"Y-y-you sit" Sirius wheezed shoving Remus into the seat before having to sink onto it himself. "Jamsie..Pete...get up here" Sirius panted out eyeing them with a glare that made the pair mutter before traipsing over to the platform. 

Sirius cleared his throat as he re-gained his breath before muttering something to Remus who grinned and nodded his head, rolling a few scales over the piano keys to loosen his fingers up before nodding that he was ready. 

James and Peter exchanged horrified glances as the first few notes echoed into the room and Sirius opened his mouth and in one of his better Jerry Lee Lewis impressions to date began to sing the song he'd first sung on the start of year feast.

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, Too much love drives a man insane ,You broke my will, but what a thrill, Goodness gracious great balls of fire". Some of the regular Saturday punters turned to watch with minor interest as the piano playing tuned up a notch and Sirius smirked evilly at James who looked on the verge of strangulation before continuuing.

"I learned to love all of your Hollywood money, You came along and you moved me honey, I changed my mind, looking fine, Goodness gracious great balls of fire. You kissed me baybah, woo.....it feels good, Hold me baybah, learn to let me love you like a lover should, Your fine, so kind, I'm a nervous world that your mine mine mine mine-ine."

"I cut my nails and I quiver my thumb. I'm really nervous but it sure is fun, Come on baybah, you drive me crazy, Goodness gracious great balls of fire, Well kiss me baybah, woo-oooooo....it feels good, Hold me baybah, I want to love you like a lover should. Your fine, so kind, I got this world that your mine mine mine mine-ine".

"I cut my nails and I quiver my thumb, I'm real nervous 'cause it sure is fun, Come on baybah, you drive me crazy, Goodness gracious great balls of fire, I say goodness gracious great balls of fire...oooh...". 

Madam Rosmerta was bursting with laughter as they came to a finish with James and Peter staring at them in varying states of horror, Sirius grabbed Remus' arm and the pair bowed profusely before marching off stage leaving James and Peter to stare at each other. 

Rosmerta chuckled and shook her head, "I'll let you off lightly this time boys. Maybe when you're old enough to come here without your Professors getting all bent out of shape you could make those performances a regular thing".

Sirius grinned at Remus who grinned back before the pair as one lifted their tankards of butterbeer and took deep gulps of the warm liquid.


	15. Tainted by Association

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Fourteen: Tainted by Association.

A/n: Er. That took a bloody long time! Forgive me -.-;; Anyways, this chapter is reasonably long, nothing to special. More of everybodys favourite Defense Against Dark Arts teacher...-cough-yearight-cough- An unhappy Lily Evans, a tired and or choking Remus, a thoughtful/plotting/excited Sirius, a satisfied James Potter and a sleepy/otherwise boring Peter. WoOhOo

*****

Dear Sirius,  
How's Hogwarts holding up with you nutters under it's roof? I'm glad to see I haven't gotten any bills for roof-replacements, unless they're still in the mail. The Hogwarts Owls always have been shockingly slow with deliveries. Your mother sends her best for your birthday, your presents will be coming via owl on the date. I know what you're like Siri, you'd probably rip them open the moment they arrived.  
Be glad you're safe in Hogwarts, the situation with that nutter who killed the family in Scotland has just gotten a whole lot worse. It seems he's working his way through Britain, several muggles have been found dead and another family was destroyed. Moody is definitely not very happy.   
Say hello to the Potter brat for me and your other friends. Don't cause too much trouble you hear? I want you to be careful alright.  
Love,  
Your Dad XXX

Sirius stared at the parchment for several minutes before shooing the red-tinged owl away from his toast with a frown. "Damn bird" he murmured vaguely as he tucked the letter into his pocket. They still hadn't caught the nutter then, that wasn't a good sign at all. 

James flopped down beside him grinning ear to ear as he glanced eagerly toward the Slytherin table where a group of very sour looking first years were glowering over at them. Many of them sporting very red noses, mostly due to the colds they had caught after their romping in the snow.

"Whassa matter Siri?" he asked as he lathered thick amounts of butter and jam onto a piece of toast. "Letter from m'dad" he replied absently, "he says hi by the way..". James took a giant bite out of his slice of toast and began to munch thickly, "I luff thundays" he announced in between munches and recieved several disgusted looks from Veronica.

Sirius chuckled shaking his head. "Always the ladies man Jamsie". James pulled an obscene face at his friend and blinked in surprise as Remus commented lazily while sitting down, "the wind'll change". He began to pile vast amounts of bacon and eggs onto his plate before begginning to wolf them down at a remarkable rate.

Veronica wrinkled her nose and shuffled several seats down from the Marauders muttering something about 'tainted by association'. Sirius snickered appreaciatively and thumped Remus on the back. Choking on a mouthful of eggs Remus began to splutter all the while glaring at Sirius as he tried to swallow the hazardous mouthful. 

Peter slumped into the seat on the other side of Remus sleepy eyed and yawning as Remus began to thump himself on the back furiously his eyes watering. "Whassamatter Remy" he yawned out as the werewolf swallowed forcefully and began sucking in large amounts of air.

"B-b-bloody hell Siri" Remus gasped as he massaged his throat. Sirius produced a lazy, "M'dad says hi" before taking a bite out of his toast after lathering it with large amounts of scrambled egg. "Your birthdays coming up soon isn't it Siri?" James piped up after swallowing and shooting a smug smirk down the table at Veronica.

Sirius nodded, "Wednesday" was the calm response and Remus raised an eyebrow. "Why so ...calm?" he muttered somewhat disturbed, after James' performance he had expected nothing less then pandemonium the second Sirius' birthday came within a months radius.

Peter blinked in surprise. "Geeze that barely gives me enough time to choose a present.." he muttered rubbing his hair in his hands ruefully. He near yelped as a loud sadistic crow of, "hello noddy" echoed loudly in his ear.

Jumping a foot in the air Peter turned surprised blue eyes on the grinning Professor Moore who snickered before strolling toward the head table for his morning caffine influx. Sirius chuckled shaking his head, "he was at school with m'dad you know" he commented off-hand. James raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know that the Spawn of Satan was allowed to recieve an education" he mused aloud and winced as an apple pelted him in the back of the head.

Turning his head he blinked at the grinning Professor who mouthed, "I heard that". Remus snickered appreciatively and shook his head, "he does make things abit more amusing" he commented and Peter shivered violently. "Just because he doesn't pick on you.." he mumbled and Remus raised an eyebrow. 

"Petey your delusional, Moore picks on everyone". An orange pelted Sirius in the back of the head and the boy turned his head to raise an eyebrow at the evilly grinning Professor who stuck his tongue out before turning toward Luff to try and annoy the older Professor into an early retirement.

"Well he doesn't call Remy a Noddy does he?". Sirius grinned slightly, "no. Remy's got his own very special nick-name don't you Remy?" Remus let out an indiscrete wail as he attempted to hide his head, "Siri..no" he moaned. "Awww but Moon-baby..." Sirius drawled.

"Shut. Up." Remus growled and Sirius batted his eyelashes at him. James snickered quietly and glanced suspiciously over his shoulder before announcing, "I have an idea about getting back specifically at Malfoy and Snape...you know for the broom incident". Remus glanced absently down at his arm rubbing it ruefully before nodding slightly. 

"HQ" was the hiss that came as a fifth year eyed the group suspiciously. "Right, after breakfast" Sirius announced before begginning to construct a sandwich made soley from breakfast foods. As he sprinkled a layer of cornies over the peppered scrambled eggs Peter turned very green.

"Y-you aren't going to eat that are you Siri?" he whimpered clutching his stomach convulsively. "Whyever not Pete?" was the coy reply as he began to pile slices of Banana over the odd concoction. A sprinkle of sugar soon followed along with a few pieces of bacon, slipping a final piece of french toast over top he grinned evilly.

This was one of Sirius' better breakfast games. Seeing whether anyone would dare eat the disgusting concoctions he made, "oi! Professor Moore" he called out sweetly. The Professor raised an eyebrow, "yes Muppet?" was the lazy booming reply. "Dare you to eat my sandwich" was the call back.

The Defense teacher snorted loudly, "honestly Black. I'm the Defense against Dark Arts teacher, do you really think I'd eat anything that was of your creation?". Sirius grinned back, "I dunno. I just thought that our Defense teacher might not be a chicken" he called back.

Moore's lips twitched and his eyes glittered. "Chicken?" he growled before vaulting over the staff table. The rest of the faculty and students watched in amusement as the man stalked toward Sirius' place and lifted the concoction lazily. Lifting the top slice of toast away he pulled a face before grinning nastily and quick as a flash mushing the contents of the sandwich into the creators face.

As Remus and James howled with laughter Sirius let out a disgusted yelp and catching up some of the residue mushed it into the Professors hair. "BRING IT ON BLACK!" the Professor roared grabbing the bowl-full of scrambled eggs and tipping them over Sirius' head. "GLADLY!" Sirius retorted before diving on the Professor half a banana in hand which he proceeded to mush over the Professors face.

"BLACK! PROFESSOR MOORE!".

The pair paused in mid mushing to find Professor Mcgonagall stalking towards them. Her eyes glittered angrily as she grabbed each by an ear and hauled them off towards the entrance hall, leaving three Marauders in hysterics and a table-full of puzzled Professors.

*****

Lily Evans shuffled up a worn stack of Transfiguration notes, slumping on the floor as she stared dejectedly at the obscenely smudged remnants of her seventeenth practise essay. With only two months left until the end of year exams already the Professors had begun to lay on extra homework.

This combined with what the young red head had dubbed as 'Sally Stuck-up Snob McGregor' problems left a very miserable first year. Feeling the tingling before the first tear had time to form she sniffed and rubbed her eyes in frustration, it was times like these when she wondered whether coming to Hogwarts rather then attending the Private Muggle School with her sister was the right thing to do.

Hugging her knees with a sigh she rested her chin neatly on her knees, closing her eyes to take several deep breaths. Sally had just recently made a point of mocking her as loudly as possible around as many people as she could, including the Marauders, including one James Potter that Sally knew she 'liked' in that way.

If she had only just gone to a normal school then this wouldn't of happened. Nobody would care that she wasn't from a pure-blooded magical family, nobody would care that she was rubbish at Transfiguration and Astronomy. Wiping hurriedly at the second tear in frustration with her sleeve she sniffed again in an attempt to get herself under control.

If Sally saw her now it would only give her more reason to mock her. Stubbornly wiping away the remnants of tears from her eyes she set her jaw before crumpling up the seventeenth practise essay and starting on test essay number 18.

As a shadow fell across her light Lily lifted her head irritably, "what?". A surprised Sirius Black blinked back at her, "well I knew I could be annoying but I've never quite gotten that reaction before.." he trailed off as she glared pointedly at him before giving a winning grin.

"You practising for the exams already Lils? We both know you'll ace them no sweat, that Sally Mcgregor mind you...I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't make it at all" he winked at her pointedly and she gave a weak smile. Flopping down on the ground beside her he gave a grin, "that is what's bugging you right? 'Cause if you want I'm sure Jamie, Remy an Pete wouldn't mind cooking up a lovely treat for our good friend Sally...".

Lily gave a weak pathetic sort of laugh and shook her head. "Its all right Sirius, besides if you want to do something you could get Remus to sing another one of his songs" she glanced up hopefully and met Sirius' sparkling eyes. "Aaah you are a lady of good tastes Miss Evans, I have been attempting to get a certain Mister Lupin to sing for us again for quite some time, I'm sure he'd be more then happy to sing for a young damsel in distress".

Slight colour rose in Lilys cheeks and she smiled again, "you think he'd sing then? He is very good you know..". Sirius put on a mock offended look, "and I'm not? Well Miss Evans...I'm not quite sure whether.." catching Lilys surprised look he snorted, "alright alright I'm joking!".

"Anyway, I know for a fact that one Mister Lupin is moping up in the boys dormitory in the pretense of studying, much as you were right here" he grinned. "I have a feeling he might be convinced to help us out if we can get him and that blasted guitar out of the dorms, are you up for a challenge Miss Evans?".

"The boys dormitories? B-but i'm not allowed in there". Sirius shook his hand dismissively, "hogwash" he announced. "I think you'll find that's Hogwarts Siri, honestly..this boy has the memory of an elephant" James grinned down at the pair, the dim fire-light casting an eery glow off of his glasses.

"You'll find that I meant hogwash Jamie my boy" Sirius replied calmly. "I was just discussing infiltration tactics with Miss Evans here Jim" he added as an afterthought. James raised an eyebrow before flopping down on the other side of Lily, "pray do tell ol' chap".

"Well, we have discovered Miss Evans in a current moping position after a certain situation, she has consented to get over it only on the condition that our good Moping friend Remy will sing another song, so Jamsie m'lad, we have been discussing exactly how to get Miss Evans into the off-limits boys dormitory".

James tapped his chin his expression becoming thoughtful and aloof. Or as Sirius would have most certainly put it, 'thought-fool and a-fool'. "By Joe I think i've got it!" he announced, standing abruptly he leaned over Lily to mutter something to Sirius who nodded.

The pair of boys stood up leaving Lily in a very nervous state, glancing from one to the other uncertainly. When James suddenly ceized her around the waist and through her over his shoulder she let out a shriek of surprise, "target aquired. Move out men, go-go-go!" Sirius chanted and James took off up the stairs with the suprised Lily still shrieking as Sirius grinned widely and followed at a safe distance.

As the door slammed shut behind Sirius an eery silence was found. A very mopy looking Remus staring in quiet bewilderment at the group, "hmm...Jamsie...why have you got Lily Evans over your shoulder?" he asked in a perplexed voice. 

James aquired a bewildered expression, "I do? Lily Evans you say, are you sure you aren't seeing things Remy...I mean.." Sirius smacked him deftly over the head. "Put her down you twat" he said with a snort and James blinked, "oh right you are Siri" he lazily dropped Lily onto Remus' bed and she let out a yelp.

Trying to regain what little dignity she had left she huffily tried to pull her wayward hair back into place so it didn't appear as if she had a combover. "May I ask why you brought Lily up here, not that I mind and all" Remus asked casually glancing from Sirius to James. "Err..well..I kind of forgot" James admitted scratching his head while Sirius beamed proudly.

"For once I'm not the complete twat!" he whooped loudly punching the air. Lily stared between the pair in surprise and glanced at Remus nervously, "yes I know. I think the altitude get's to them..." Sirius snorted and glared at the werewolf.

"Well since you asked. Miss Evans here was looking particuarly mopy tonight and insisted that hearing you play a song would make her feel better. So go on Remy, sing". Remus blinked at his friends who sat down obligingly on either side of Lily on his own bed and looked expectantly upon him.

Shaking his head with a disgruntled groan he lent under his bed and produced the infamous guitar and pile of music sheets. "What d'you want me to play then?" he asked glancing between the lot of them. "Something we haven't heard before" Sirius announced, "what about that duet you showed me the other night" he added as an after thought.

"One problem with that Siri, it's a -duet-". Sirius beamed, "I can help you out there" he commented. Remus raised an eyebrow, "you don't even know the tune or anything.." he began and Sirius shrugged. "Show me then" he commented and held his hand out for the music sheet.

"Well this isn't for a guitar you know Siri.." Sirius shrugged. Shaking his head ruefully Remus magically duplicated the music sheets before taking a copy for himself.

"I'll go first Siri so you can hear the tune". Clearing his throat Remus glanced nervously between the trio before opening his mouth to begin the song.

"I can show you the world, Shining Shimmering Splendid. Tell me Princess, just when did you last let your heart decide? I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride. A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. No-one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming". Remus glanced up at Sirius who glanced down at the lyrics in puzzled confusion.

"Maybe I should sing it first Siri, then when you've heard the tune you can take over the second part" Sirius nodded in sheepish agreement before Remus started again. Clearing his throat and trying to ignore the pink tinge that had taken over his cheeks.

"I can show you the world, Shining Shimmering Splendid. Tell me Princess, just when did you last let your heart decide? I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride. A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. No-one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming. A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew, but now from way up here, it's crystal clear that now i'm in a whole new world with you."

"Unbelievable sights, Indescribable feelings, Soaring Tumbling Free Wheeling, through an endless diamond sky. A whole new world, Dont you dare close your eyes, a hundred thousand things to see, I'm like a shooting star. I've come so far, I can't go back to where I used to be. A whole new world, with new horizons to pursue, I'll chase them anywhere, theres time to spare, let me share this whole new world with you".

"A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view, noone to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming. A whole new world with new horizons to pursue, I'll chase them anywhere, theres time to spare, let me share, this whole new world with you, you. A whole new world, that's where we'll be, a thrilling change, a wondrous place, for you and me".

Sirius blinked and stared at his friend. "Alright" he announced slowly glancing to both of his other friends who seemed beyond words, "awesome" he added as an afterthought. "Er, so..I'll just sing the second part shall I?".

Remus raised an eyebrow, "sure Siri..". Sirius wordlessly picked up his sheet and began to stare murderously at the words as though trying to imprint them into his memory. 

After several run-throughs of the song Sirius seemed to sing the song as though it was his own, his voice blending seamlessly with Remus' until the duet seemed as perfect as Remus had hoped it would. When the four trudged downstairs with Lily still smiling serenely none of them expected the group of first year girls to be standing glaring at the female portion of the group.

"See I told you" Sally said loudly her eyes lingering on Lily as her lip curled, "I told you she went up to the boys dorm." The other girls tittered glancing amongst each other while Lily turned very pink in the face. "I knew it when I first saw her of course. I mean why else would they hang around with her?".

Lily's face turned even brighter pink before she spun on her heel and wordlessly marched out of the commonroom, her hands straying to brush away angry and embarassed tears. Remus ever the gentleman gave a dissaproving frown in the other girls direction before marching off after the girl as Sirius rounded on the group and James glanced from the wide open portrait hole to the group of satisfied pre-teens.

"Pleased with yourselves are you?" Sirius snapped crossing his arms and eyeing the group with something near disgust. Sally stubbornly crossed her arms and stuck her nose up glaring at Sirius with all her might, Veronica raised an eyebrow doubtfully, while Alexia rolled her eyes and sat down on the stairway.

"She should've slapped you" he muttered in disgust before turning back to James who seemed to be reaching boiling point as the events sunk in, "c'mon James. Let's go see if Remy found her". Sirius curtly turned and strode toward the portrait hole, James glanced at them with one final glare before hurrying after Sirius.

It turned out they didn't have to look very hard. They came across Remus and Lily sitting in a small alcove, the redhead was sniffing pathetically as she wiped her sleeve across her nose. Remus was soothing her with gentle calm words and she gave a pathetic laugh and shook her head, "look at me. I'm worse off then I was before I saw you all this afternoon" shaking her head she wiped at her eyes and sniffed again.

"Sorry" she murmured shaking her head, "that wasn't anything to do with you guys". Remus grinned as Sirius ruffled her hair enthusiastically, "sure it was Lils, you're part of a tight-knit group here lassie". She wrinkled her nose and glared at Sirius in mock offense, "I would prefer not being referred to as a border collie thank you".

James grinned lightly, "I dunno Lily...maybe if you had a bit of facial hair.." Sirius smacked him over the head. "Don't worry Lils, this ones a daft prat". Remus nodded his agreement, "for the first time in his life Sirius is right, if you're looking for the intellect in this group you're looking for me" he winked at her as James and Sirius pulled faces at him.

"Speaking of daft...where's Pete?". Sirius snorted loudly and began snickering as James beamed innocently, "detention" Remus replied lazily. "Remember, for that cauldron we blew up in Potions" he added as an afterthought as he stood and helped Lily to her feet. 

Lily sighed, "I don't know why he puts up with you lot" she mused aloud and the three remaining Marauders eyed her curiously. "What d'ya mean, what's he got to put up with?" Lily blinked slightly. "He just doesn't seem the type to enjoy getting in trouble all the time is all". Sirius shrugged nochalantly, "he seems to have fun enough". James nodded his agreement while Remus shrugged. 

"Well trust that lot to ruin all my and Sirius' hard work" Remus finally said eyeing Lilys red eyes and Sirius nodded. "Simply typical, we shall have to start all over Remy, any ideas?". Lily hurriedly shook her head, "I'm starving. I might just go get some dinner..".

"But Lily..". "Darling..". James stepped in abruptly by dropping to his knees, "don't leave us..". "Whatever shall we do...".

The redhead gave a yelp before taking off down the hall towards the Great Hall in the blink of an eye. The three remaining boys grinned evilly exchanging looks before Sirius let out a calm, "#23". James nodded his head in agreement and Remus merely grinned before the three took off at a lazy stride towards the hall, preparing for what would most likely be a very embarassed Lily Evans to yell at them.

*****

Sirius grinned widely as he leaned precariously over Remus' bed. The sleeping boy so peacefully unaware of what was to become of his well-earnt mornings worth of sleep. For the clock on his bedside table proclaimed distastefully that it was a mere 4.55am. Hardly the time of morning for an exhausted First Year Gryffindor to awaken.

However with James Potter at Sirius' side grinning eagerly and egging his friend on the duty was done and Sirius began to prod Remus rudely in the back of the head. A sleepy grunt escaped the tawny tangles of hair and James snickered before Sirius began to prod and poke the other boy in the head again.

"Lemme 'lone" was the disgruntled mumbling. "Rise and shine Remy" James cooed girlishly. "'uggar off" was the disorientated mumble before the werewolf curled further into a ball in an attempt to rid himself of the aggravating prodding of his head. Sirius however persisted and a very grumpy werewolf lifted his head to stare about in lethargic disorientation.

"Wha'd'ya wan'?" he mumbled and Sirius beamed energetically. "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" he suddenly yelled right into the werewolfs sensitive ears. A yell escaped the tawny-haired boys lips and he was suddenly on his feet, eyes wide open and shaking with surprise. "S-siri what the hell!".

James grinned smugly while a sleepy Peter mumbled vaguely as he leaned half-asleep against Remus' bed-post. Sirius looking very pleased with himself indeed poked Remus in the arm. "Play me a birthday song" he demanded and Remus gave a mumbled, "wha..now? Siri it's two minutes to five in the morning...I wan' sleep".

"NO!" was the yelled response and a sleepy grumble from Joe's bed implored them to be a bit less rowdy. "Fine..but in the common room, I don't need Locke an Joe after my head after losing their sleep" he mumbled flopping onto his knees to drag his pile of music sheets and guitar out from the dangerous space between the bottom of his bed and the floor.

With that he rummaged around in his bed-side cabinet for the elaborately gift-wrapped birthday present before trudging out of the dorm after a skipping Sirius and a smirking James. Peter seemed to be sleep-walking as he stumbled his way down the stairs after Remus and very near rolled down the stairs behind them.

Sinking into an armchair near the dying fire Remus extended the pile of sheets toward Sirius who took them eagerly to sort through the lot. He ummed and aahed for several minutes giving Remus just enough time to begin to drift off back toward the wonderful world of slumber before a loud exclamation of 'THIS ONE!' drew him back.

"Running in the crowds, of this faceless town, I need to feel the touch of a friend. In the country side, I wander far and wide, the Isolation gets me again. I don't know where to go, when I feel like crying all night. It's time to open myself to something new, it's time to stop, and go right through."

A sleep ridden Marauder stumbled his way through the song, his tongue feeling as though it weighed twenty pounds. "Then suddenly, my calm and confidence are swelling up, practically erupt. And it's all because of kindness that I feel, from people I don't even know. Then suddenly, my intuition and my wisdom grow, and then I know, that most of all I feel compassions real, from strangers wherever I go. Thankyou for waking me up".

He set his guitar back into his lap and looked as though he were about to drift off as he held out a crudely wrapped present toward the birthday boy, his hand swaying as his body refused to stay awake. Sirius excitedly took the present and tore into it his eyes glittering as he removed the paper and began to inspect the contents.

He had been certain that he like James would recieve a book. It seemed like the sort of present Remus was likely to give, but instead he found himself presented with an unusual box of what appeared to be Chocolate Frogs. It was labelled 'Limited Edition Cards'. He blinked at Remus with wide eyes, "h-how did you get a hold of these?" he mumbled wide-eyed. 

"Rom" he yawned out sleepily. "I asked him to get 'em for me, he's been working with a few big companies over in the USA". Sirius grinned widely, he'd been a card-collecting fanatic since he had first tasted the sweet chocolate of Chocolate Frogs. His father had gotten him hooked at an early age according to his mother, Oliver Black was simply a chocolate fanatic.

"Cheers Remy" Sirius leaned precariously over his seat on the couch to catch his sleepy friend in a one armed 'manly-hug'. After Sirius had opened his other offerings from James and Peter he opened up the sealed box carefully his eyes dancing as he looked over the chocolates. Handing each of his friends one politely before he snatched one up himself and quickly broke it in half to stop it from leaping away.

Withdrawing the card he quickly stuffed the chocolate into his mouth before nimbly flipping the card over in his fingers to get a good look at the picture. What stared up at him was the strangest looking 'wizard' he'd ever seen. Bright corn-flower blue hair hung in a simple hung at his neck, a gravity-defying fringe sticking up into the air like a Pea-cocks tail.

His face seemed to lack the ability to open his eyes, merely making two crescent moons on his face, he was dressed in the oddest assemble of clothing Sirius had ever seen. A strangely styled white shirt with a black sash tied around his waist, tan coloured baggy pants that were held in around his calves by white leg bands. A cloak was tied over one shoulder and around at the waist. In one hand he carried a long pole, at present he was beaming up at Sirius giving a cheerful wave before tipping a large straw hat at him.

Raising an eyebrow Sirius flipped to the back of the card and began to murmur aloud, "Chichiri. The ancient Chinese mage. He was best known for his title as a star warrior of the southern god of Suzaku. Blessed with the gift of teleportation using his kasa, the ability to change his entire appearance, the ability of casting energy barriers and a variety of spell-casting."

Remus glanced puzzled at Sirius as he leaned over to get a look at the card, the mage had grasped his face and appeared to have pulled a layer of skin off. Sirius looked repulsed until he saw that the man had in fact pulled off a mask revealing one normal eye, and one sealed shut with a long hideous scar.

The Mage gave one last wave before dissapearing out of the frame. The others abruptly inspected their own cards with curious expressions, Remus lifted his own reading aloud. "Clow Reed. The creator of the infamous Clow Cards. The most powerful sorceror of his time Clow Reed created an entire new branch of magic when he created the Clow Cards, until this day the book of Clow has reamined missing until it's next Master or Mistress is discovered".

Remus glanced down at the darkhaired man, his hair so black it was almost blue. He wore thin glasses over smiling eyes and long traditional deep blue wizarding robes with a cloak composed of many stars, moons and suns thrown over his shoulders. Sirius leaned over to take the card as Remus offered it and the boy inspected it wide-eyed with curiosity as the sorceror appeared to chuckle before dissapearing.

James stared down at his own card in puzzled quiet before revealing it as another ancient Chinese mage by the name of Hikitsu. Peter finally passed his card to Sirius after acknowledging it as another mage by the name of Nakago. Sirius stared down at his new cards in silence before grinning and shoving them in his pocket before raising an eyebrow, "what's say we go do some celebrating?".

******


	16. Chandeleirs and Quidditch

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Fifteen: Chandeleirs and Quidditch.

******

James Potter's eyes gleamed maniacally as he stared on the unsuspecting form of his best friends. It was Sirius' turn to be humiliated on his birthday, fairs fair. He had gone through it and he'd be damned if Sirius got out of it. He was however running out of time, it was dinner time already, but the day had gone by with a lot of celebrating. Mostly in the form of pranking the Slytherins, alot of bangs and explosions and a few exploding glitter balls.

All in all a very sparkly Lucius Malfoy glared at them with half-singed eyebrows from across the great hall while Snape's face slowly shed it's disturbing layer of dragon scales. Sirius himself was grinning madly as he piled another scoop of icecream ontop of the marvellous ice-cream sundae that he had decided would only be appropriate on such a wondrous occasion.

Remus was looking rather pale, the full moon was only two days away and James was begginning to feel a bit guilty for depriving his tired friend of much-needed rest. Not that the lack of sleep took a toll on his body, Remus would be fit as a fiddle until the Moon began to wane again, right now he was reaching his peak of fitness, which meant that his wit and temper was sure to be sharpening.

Wincing slightly James reminded himself not to get on the Werewolfs badside during the next couple of days before turning his gaze on Peter, the smallest of their group was squirming in his seat uncomfortably, raising an eyebrow James glanced around the hall wondering exactly what was causing his friends strange actions.

It didn't take him long to notice the nasty glares that Alexia was shooting down the table at him, or more specifically at the red-head seated on the other side of him. James groaned and shifted in his seat, the girls still hadn't given Lily a break. The only one who she was on speaking terms with was Jamie, and she tended to hang out with Ravenclaws more then often.

Lily gave out a loud sigh and glanced at Sirius who was gleefully piling chocolate fudge sauce over the giant sundae while Remus looked on ravenously. She gave a small smile and glanced down at her own plate, the remnants of strawberry shortcake still apparent along with traces of whipped cream. If there was one thing about Hogwarts that beat out any other school she might have gone to, it was definitely the food.

She glanced up to meet James' puzzled expression and gave a small most certainly goofy looking smile as Sirius 'accidently' dripped a spoonful of chocolate sauce over Remus' head. Remus retorted by arming himself with a bowful of caramel sauce and promptly dumping the contents over Sirius' head.

The entire great hall turned to watch as Sirius made a dive for the strawberry sauce while Remus grabbed the whipped cream, surprise when Sirius winked at him Remus suddenly grinned madly. Lily's eyes widened as she was hit by the splatter created by Remus' sudden attack with the whipped cream while James found himself coated in a sickeningly sweet strawberry sorbet.

Peter seemed to have gathered the worst of the whipped cream attack and now Remus was proceeding to squish Sirius' face into the carefully prepared Sundae. Lily wrinkled her nose as he wiped cream from her face with her sleeve, "simply wonderful" she muttered sarcastically and was met with a puppy dog expression from Sirius who was now dripping with a mixture of sauces and icecream. 

"Now now Lily, no need for sarcasm here" James admonished pompuously before flinging a spoonful of the melting sundae at her. Being splattered in the face with a mixture of melting icecream could never be described as a pleasant thing. But with a group of first year girls tittering down the table a nasty need for revenge seemed to ignite in her brain. Casually hefting a hunk of Pavalova in her hand she threw it forcefully across the table and was pleasantly surprised when James was splattered with it.

Remus snickered appreaciatively with Sirius as James wiped the creamy substance from his glasses. "Well! I never..." he began and was met with a raise of an eyebrow and a small amount of chuckling from Peter who hurriedly shut up when three pairs of eyes were suddenly drawn back to him. 

"Er...." he began in an attempt to redeem himself when he was splattered by a large helping of chocolate cake. "Now now Muppets. Keep your childish games to yourselves" came a gleeful voice and all five of the lot turned their eyes upon a grinning Professor Moore. "I think this is the perfect excuse to award you a birthday gift Black, let me see...a free ticket for you and all your friends right into..detention!". 

A maniacal wave of laughter escaped his mouth and the Professor grinned down at them, "now go along and get cleaned up. Wouldn't want you dripping desserts all over the benches would we?". The insane Professor bounced away to the staff table quite elated after giving out some detentions.

Lily stood with a grumble and began to trudge out of the great hall, the Marauders chattering animatedly as they followed her. "Oh go on Lily, it isn't all that bad" Sirius said finally with a roll of his eyes and was met with a stony emerald glare, he shrunk back slightly and gave a casual laugh. Smacking Remus over the back of the head lightly he earned a second glare, within seconds the birthday boy was being hung from the nearest chandelier with James' ever-eager-to-help wand-work.

Sirius began to yell out as they trailed off toward the dormitories, "COME ON!" he yelled out and recieved an evil grin from James. "Paybacks a bitch ain't it Siri?" he replied sweetly before skipping off down the corridor rubbing his hands together with apparent glee.

*****

Sirius glared nastily at the other three Marauders and was met with two smug smiles and one rather sheepish shrug of his shoulders. "You guys owe me for that" he snapped shortly before stalking past them into the bathroom with a toss of his head. Once the hot water was running Sirius began to peel his clothes off, sticky with caramel sauce and the remnants of an ice-cream sundae.

It was morning, it had taken the whole night for some idiot to find him and let him down. Stepping into the shower he glared at the side of the showerstall the hot water began to slowly melt away the anger that had built inside of him and he sighed rubbing his hands through his hair. He just couldn't stay mad at them.

Shaking his head in frustration he reached out and turned the water off. Grumbling he stepped out of the shower and fished around for a towel, finding his hanging neatly over the towel rail he gave a raise of an eyebrow, the house-elves must have been around again. Drying himself off before wrapping the towel around his waist he stumbled out of the bathroom into the boys dormitory and padded his way over to his trunk.

Grumbling as he rifled through his trunk for fresh clothes he cast an offhand glare at the three Marauders sitting on his bed. They grinned back hopefully and were met with a grumpy grumble and a half-hearted glare. As he began to dress, buttoning up ink-wash bell bottom jeans and pulling a tshirt over his hair he frowned before begginning to rub his dripping hair dry with the towel. 

He cast one last half-hearted glare at them before groaning and diving onto the bed, sending the surprised Marauders sprawling backwards in a tangle of limbs. He grinned toothily and shrugged, shoving Remus off the bed he settled himself comfortably in the werewolfs former spot and grinned down at him, "minstrel?" he called sweetly batting his eyelashes at the disgruntled were-wolf.

*****

"QUIDDITCH QUIDDITCH QUIDDITCH!!". 

Peter Pettigrew groaned as he creaked an eye open. The horrendous amount of noise that had just erupted in his eardrum causing him to lash out, there was a curse and a mutter of, "Petes got a decent right hook..". Creaking open an eye the smallest Marauder glanced up to see the thoroughly excited James Potter quite literally bouncing off the walls while Remus refused to get out of his bed and was screaming, "NANANANANA" at the top of his lungs.

Sirius was peering down at Peter himself while rubbing his shoulder and raising an eyebrow. "Rise and Shine, It's Quidditch Time!" he crowed loudly before grabbing Peters arm and dragging him out of his cosy little safe-haven. "Besides, you have to help me get Remy out of bed". Peter nodded vaguely in his acceptance of the mission and stumbled half-blinded by sleep towards his friends bed.

"Shoo gotta gedup" he mumbled at the screaming werewolf before promptly keeling over on Sirius' bed and begginning to snore loudly again. Remus paused in mid-yell to stare at the boy with a raised eyebrow, while Sirius blinked at him. "Geeze" he muttered in confusion before strolling over and slapping him deftly on the cheeks.

Remus leapt down from his bed to peer with a doctors eye down at the snoring marauder, "it would seem our friend Peter has caught a serious disease" he finally announced with a sombre shake of his head. Sirius raised an eyebrow, "really?" he asked blinking. Remus nodded, "mmhmm". James paused and glanced at them with a raised eyebrow, "lemme guess!" he yelled loudly before joining them in peering down at the boy. 

"I say...he caught a good case of" he bent close to Peters ear and squealed, "Sirius-ness". Peter jumped abruptly and stared widely at the three Marauders who were standing over him. Sirius blinked at James and snarled, "HEY!". Remus shrugged "isn't it Quidditch today?".

"QUIDDITCH QUIDDITCH QUIDDITCH!".

*****

Remus grunted as he carefully secured the last tie in place, glaring at the three lounging Marauders as he flopped back into his seat. "Can't we think of a better way to get that thing put up?" he grumbled acknowledging the large banner that was stretched across the top of the tower. Sirius grinned at him, "why should we? You seem to be doing a fine job putting it up yourself Remy". He was met with a sharp punch to the arm and he winced and laughed nervously, "sure...we'll talk about it later?".

"So what're you planning for this game then?" came a casual voice as the red-headed Lily Evans took a seat infront of them and glanced at them curiously. "Planning?" Sirius asked airily glancing away and recieving another punch in the arm from Remus. "Don't be a prat Siri" James chided in a motherly fashion before shrugging. "What are we doing anyway?" he commented and Peter blinked slightly, "yeah. Come to think of it..".

Remus raised an eyebrow, "I'm not entirely sure, what about you Siri, any plans?". Sirius shrugged nochalantly, "I thought we could set a few of Kettleburn's Hippogriffs loose in the stadium if we lose.." James hissed loudly and glared at Sirius. "We'll never lose" he growled and Remus began to snicker to himself.

"I dunno Jamie...I saw the Slytherins practising. They were looking pretty sharp" Lily raised an eyebrow looking positively scandalised. "Remus you can't honestly think the Slytherins have a chance!" she complained in unison with James', "Not a chance in hell you traitorous curr!". When Peter shook his head with a groan and Sirius snickered they stared at each other blinking, Remus however began to guffaw with laughter.

"DAMNIT REMY!" James suddenly yelled, diving around Sirius in the attempt to get at the hysterically laughing werewolf while Lily stared on in confusion, Sirius grinned widely. Smacking herself in the forehead for taking the bait she moaned and sank into her seat and glanced up at the giant banner that was begginning to flap in the wind. "Hey..what happened to your banner?" she spoke up blinking in surprise.

"What d'you mean?" Sirius blinked in puzzled confusion as he turned his head to look up at the flapping banner, that looked suspiciously as though it were about to.. "IT'S GETTING AWAY!" Sirius wailed loudly causing the other Marauders to turn and watch as the banner was torn away and began to zoom off on the current of the wind.

"Damnit" Remus grumbled watching it go and glared as it teasingly floated over the top of the Quidditch Pitch before dissapearing toward the Forbidden Forest. 

"Now we definitely have to do something" James mumbled glumly and let out a sigh as a brief flash of white fluttered in the distance.


	17. Why Do You Build Me Up, Buttercup?

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Sixteen: Why do you build me up Buttercup?

*****

Lily Evans glared frustratedly at the parchment that lay, depressingly empty, in front of her. It was no secret that her temper was hot and by the murderous glare that had appeared in her eyes someone was about to be on the recieving end of one fiery-haired first year witches wrath.

In fact it appeared there were several someones, in the form of three tittering first year girls who had clustered on the sofa directly behind hers and made it their business to comment loudly on whatever they could in an attempt to recieve a reaction from their tormentee.

So far they had mocked everything from her looks to her handwriting and it didn't look as if they planned on stopping anytime soon. Which was most unfortunately a very bad thing for them, as they would soon learn. Messing with an Evan's was pretty much an act of suicide.

As Sally chose that moment, when Lily's nerves had finally stretched to breaking point, to announce cooly; "- and what about her clothes! I mean, where I come from it just isn't proper for girls to wear clothing like that". Lily's temper finally broke, she whipped her head around her eyes narrowing furiously as she snapped sharply with attitude dripping from her tone, "maybe that's because where I come from we aren't all stuck up snobs".

The three girls seemed to be stunned at actually receiving a reaction from the girl and stared for several seconds before Sally spoke up, "I'd rather be a snob then a tart" she retorted flipping her hair and was surprised as Lily proceeded to stand, her hands resting on her hips. Her face by now was turning a lovely shade of crimson her eyes glaring daggers at the girl before her. 

"No retort Evans? No witty come-backs? I always knew you weren't as smart as you think you are, you're just some common trashy muggle that happened to have a hint of magic" Sally snarled her eyes narrowing folding her arms imperiously over her chest. "And I always knew that you, Mcgregor, were some stuck-up snob who's so far upherself she can't even see she really isn't all that".

By now several of the older students were looking on in amusement as the two first year girls provided live entertainment. From the window seat in the corner Remus had glanced up dazed by the sudden yelling. "You know what Evans, you have no place here. Why don't you go crawling back to whatever rock it was you crawled out from and stay there" was the angry snap as Sally stood her shoulders squared and her face colouring.

"If belonging here means I have to be a snobby bitch like you I'm glad I have no place here" Lily snapped tossing her fiery hair angrily. As the 'cat-fight' began to heat up more people seemed to take interest and slowly began to shuffle towards the scene to get the best view. "If I were you Evans I would just pack and get the hell out of here" Sally snarled with a pompuous stare.

"Did you hear me ask for your advice Mcgregor?" Lily replied without skipping a beat, "And do me a favour, don't talk back". With that Lily turned, tossing her hair wildly as she flounced away. "Why Evans, is what I'm saying hitting home?" was the snide response. "You know what. It's messed up how you always have to think your right" was the curt response as she paused from where she'd been walking away.

"Because I am right and you know it" was the cool response and Lily glanced over her shoulder. Her face growing if possible redder, "Just shut up" she said witheringly. "Is that the best you could come up with 'shut up?' Come on Evans, you started this. Aren't you going to finish it?".

Lily whirled around to let loose another tirade of angry abuse before she was cut off by the calm yet sharp snap of Remus Lupin, "leave her alone Sally". Sally glanced away from Lily towards the boy who had settled on the arm of a sofa his amber eyes narrowed slightly to show he was serious. "Stay out of this Lupin" she snapped before whipping her head around toward Lily.

"Don't talk to Remus like that" Lily objected angrily taking a step back towards the girl. "Oh that's right, he's one of them isn't he. One of the ones you've been using to make yourself feel better" Sally sneered recieving a low growl from Remus as he stood abruptly. "I didn't think even you were that low Mcgregor" he snapped icily. "How dare you imply anything of the sort about my friend".

It was apparent that Remus' own sense of chivalry was all that kept him from punching Sally himself as he stepped around the side of the sofa and grabbed Lily's arm and carefully steered her away through the crowd and toward the window seat that he had previously occupied. 

Lily apparently was incredibally worked up, her face was bright red and she kept on trying to turn back to holler abuse at the girl, Remus lightly sat her down in the window seat before taking a seat himself and taking a deep breath. "Calm down" he said finally when it looked as though Lily were about ready to stand up and march back towards the group of girls.

She turned towards him her eyes still blazing before lowering her head into her hands and closing her eyes. The burning in her cheeks seemed to slowly dull and fade away and soon enough she reopened her eyes and let out a sigh, "thankyou" she mumbled almost sheepishly. 

He gave a wan vague sort of smile before shrugging. "No problem I guess" he replied as he settled back into the window seat and craned his neck around to stare out at the darkening sky thoughtfully. Still the sound of Sally saying overly-loudly about how Lily couldn't hold her own echoed in their ears causing Remus to suggest they go down to the Great Hall and see if James, Sirius and Peter had gone there after there disastrous Herbology class.

So the pair walked swiftly from the common room and headed down toward the great hall without much of another word to each other, preferring to leave each others tempers to cool. They reached the sparsely populated Great Hall quickly and entered with Remus peering around in search of the other Marauders.

Spotting the three slumped at the end of the table he strode over with Lily trailing beside him still slowly cooling off. The three glanced up and called out in greeting as the pair descended and took seats beside them. Taking one look at the pairs faces Sirius blinked, "what's the matter with you two?" he asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"Two words for you Siri" Remus began as he dolloped a large amount of mashed potato onto his plate. Sirius nodded expectantly, "Sally. Mcgregor." The darkhaired boy's eyes widened and he nodded in understanding with an "oh". James seemed suitably interested and asked dubiously, "what happened?".

Remus eyed Lily somewhat dubiously before saying carefully, "er...Lily and Sally...exchanged words?" he tried and Lily muttered savagely and stabbed her fork into a piece of chicken. James raised an eyebrow and tried his hand at calming the red-head down, "you know we don't care what they say right?" he spoke up and shrank away expectant of a verbal lashing.

When he recieved nothing of the sort he cracked an eye open to find the redhead eyeing him, a hint of confusion on her face at his expression. Sirius gave a winning grin, "I know what'll cheer you up Lils" he announced before nudging Remus pointedly in the ribs. The werewolf near choked on the piece of beef he had recently consumed and rubbed his throat with a wide-eyed expression, "here?" he asked blinking as though Sirius had gone mad.

"Yup" was the simple response. Then he smirked, his eyes smouldering somewhat sarcastically as he cast an glance at Sirius before he cleared his throat and stood. James eyed him suspiciously as their usually subdued friend stood on the bench and opened his mouth. "First I was afraid, I was petrified. I kept thinking I could never live without you by my side".

Sirius began to snicker as he scrambled to stand on the bench beside his friend and joined in as James stared with revulsion at two of his best friends. Lily stared incredulously at the pair as they sang in unison, "But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, and I grew strong, and I learnt how to get along! And so your back, from outerspace, I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face".

By now the small population of the great hall was staring at the two Gryffindors who were making a scene, as Lily slowly began to shed her anger and fought against bursting out into laughter. "I should have changed that stupid lock! I should have made you leave your key, if I knew for just one second you'd be back to bother me. Go on now go! Walk out the door, just turn around now, 'cause your not welcome anymore!".

"Weren't you the one that tried to hurt me with goodbye? Did you think I'd crumble, do you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no not I! I will survive". Sirius and Remus at this point began to croon like bad kareoke singers as Lily fought back the tirade of giggling that threatened to overcome her. When finally she gave up and surcomed to the wave of hysterics that took over Sirius and Remus took their bows and returned to their seats having accomplished their mission.

James muttered indistinctly with a grunt before eyeing the giggling Lily with a small smile. "At least it worked" he mumbled before spearing a potato on his fork and taking a large bite out of it. Sirius high-fived Remus lazily before the pair grinned and fell into an intricate hand shake that had taken the Marauders all of half a day to create and perfect.

*****

Remus hummed softly as he strummed his guitar lazily, crosslegged on his bed as he finished the vocal arrangements for his latest finished song. His eyes unfocused as he began to sing along with the laid back tune; 

"I know she said it's alright, you can make it up next time.   
I know she knows it's not right, there ain't no use in lying.   
Maybe she thinks I know something, Maybe, Maybe she thinks it's fine.   
Maybe she knows something I don't, I'm so, so tired of trying.

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one, no nah, no-one likes to be let down. 

I know she loves the sunrise, no longer sees it with her sleeping eyes.   
I know that when she said she's gonna try, well it might not work because of other ties,   
and I know she usually has some other ties and I wouldn't wanna break 'em,   
no I wouldn't wanna break em.   
Maybe she'll help me to untie this, but until then well, I'm gonna have to lie to you. 

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one no nah noone likes to be let down. 

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one nah noone likes to be let down. 

The harder that you try baby the harder you fall,   
even with all the money in the whole wide world.   
Please please, please don't pass me,   
please please, please dont pass me,   
please please,please don't pass me by.   
Everything you know bout me now baby you gonna have to change,   
you gonna call it by a brand new name.   
Please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me down.   
Just like a tree down by the water baby I show no mood,   
even after all the silly things you do.  
Please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me down."

With a satisfactory cease to his strumming Remus gave a small smile, the vocal arrangement still wasn't perfect. He could feel that by a long shot, but if he ran it by Sirius he could probably get a few tips about where it was falling flat. Lazily strumming on his guitar he leaned back against the head of his bed and continued to hum absently to himself. It was rare to get time to himself like this, especially with the looming exams that threatened them all and the continuous stream of questions that had stemmed because of said exams.

He continued to strum following the particular sheet of music that Rom had sent to him over two months ago now, still he had yet to be able to write lyrics that suited the song. The music itself had lodged a powerful emotion into his heart, somehow the music alone seemed desperately sad, and he had yet to be able to write any lyrics that could do it justice.

Remus glanced up as the dorm door swung open, expecting another interruption but instead found a slightly nervous looking Lily peering around, she caught sight of him and jumped before nervously shuffling over. "Remus?" she inquired quietly and he gave a small smile and gestured toward the space on his bed.

He noted absently just how miserable the girl looked the majority of the time, unless she was with the Marauders Lily Evans seemed to be constantly serious or completely miserable. He gave a small grin, "let me guess. Sally the Snob again?" there was a small nod and he sat up setting his guitar down onto the bed and stood up grabbing her hand and dragged her out of the dormitory and down the stairs in the direction of where Sirius, James and Peter were 'studying'. In other words Sirius and James were having a paper-dart making competition while Peter lazily drew spirals on his parchment.

He sat Lily down in one of the chairs glancing around to make sure that Sally was watching he jabbed Sirius in the ribs before withdrawing his wand from his robes, muttering indiscretely beneath his breath music began playing from it's tip, setting the wand down on the table he grinned before opening his mouth as the cue came for him to begin.

"Why do you build me up,(build me up) buttercup baby. Just to let me down, (let me down) and mess me around. And then worst of all, (worst of all) you never call baby, when you say you will (say you will) but I love you still. I need you! (I need you) more then anyone darling, you know that I have from the start, so build me up oh (build me up) buttercup don't break my heart".

By now the buzzing commonroom had turned to stare at Remus' loud dramatic re-enditon of the song and were watching the Marauder as Sirius added the back up without prompting. Lily was glancing around nervously as the attention of the common room was turned onto her, including that of a livid Sally McGregor. Remus' voice seemed to have taken on a power and range that she hadn't heard him use before as he winked at her.

"I'll be over at ten, you told me time again, but your late, I wait around and then (badaba), I head for the door, I can't take anymore, it's not you, you let me down again. (hey hey hey). Baby baby, try to find (hey hey hey) a little time and I'll make you mine (hey hey hey) I'll be home, I'll be beside the phone waiting for you. (ooohoohohh, oohohohoh).

"Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup baby, just to let me down (let me down) , and mess me around. I need you (I need you) - more - then anyone darling, you know that I have from the start. So build me up, oh buttercup (build me up), don't break my heart."

Lily by now had turned bright pink and suddenly clapping echoed from a group of fourth years who had been playing chess, this was soon echoed by more and more groups and Remus took a bow before eyeing Lily who seemed quite stunned by Remus' sudden display. She hadn't thought that calm, serene Remus would be so unpredictable, yet that was the second time he'd suprised her by breaking out into song in public.

James was now eyeing Remus in surprise, "are you sure that Punch at Christmas didn't permanently effect your brain Remy? Cause really..that was probably the randomest thing I've ever seen you do..". Sirius flicked Remus in the ear with a grin, "how come Lils get's VIP treatment then? You don't just randomly burst out into song for me" with this Sirius pretended to break down into sobs and threw himself around Remus' neck.

Lily began to laugh and glanced at James with a shake of her head, "are they always this crazy?" she asked quietly. And he glanced up with a solemn expression on his face, "I'm sad to say yes. Absolutely starkers the pair of them". Sirius glanced up and glared, "oi! I heard that Potter".

Peter glanced up from a pile of Transfiguration notes and shrugged, "your lucky Lily, Remy's usually the sanest one of us all. You get to watch Sirius slowly poison what little sanity he has from the outside". Remus stuck his tongue out childishly at Peter before slumping into a seat on the sofa and kicking his feet up on the table, "I'm sick of studying" he announced and the three who had previously been 'studying' eyed him scandalously.

"I haven't seen you study at all!" James protested and Remus snorted, "if I don't know it by now I never will" he announced brashly and Sirius leaned back in his spot on the sofa, "quite right Remy, quite right". James sighed and leaned back carefully lobbing his paper dart at the group of bitterly muttering first year girls before turning back to them. "So...what do you want to do then?".

"Well, I did have this one idea".

*****

A/n: The songs used in this chapter are as follows; I will Survive - Donna Summers (XD), Flake - Jack Johnson (Gotta luv that song ^-^;;)annnnnddddd Build me up Buttercup (a shortened version :S) by some dood who's name escapes me right now ;;. An Idea hmm...wish I had an idea -.-;;


	18. So long, Hogwarts

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Seventeen: So long, Hogwarts.

*****

Sirius peered anxiously in through the window of the Charms Classroom. His tentative smile broadened as traces of 'God Save the Queen' began to blare out from the innocent not-quite-ripe tomato that sat on Professor Flitwicks desk. James whooped and punched the air as Flitwick congratulated him brightly before the boy skipped toward the door grinning widely at Sirius as he exited.

The pair fell into the crazy 'Marauder Handshake' before eventually ending up in a one-armed 'manly' hug. Remus gave a weak nervous sort of smile towards the pair who had already faced the task and come out with flying colours before watching as an even more nervous Peter stumbled inside and trudged toward Flitwicks desk. 

The three remaining Marauders peered through the window anxiously as the other first years awaited their Charms Exam with dread. Remus was to be the last of the group to face the test and was beggining to doubt his actions by not studying as much as he could of, wringing his hands he crossed his fingers and peered through the window as Peter began to go pink in the cheeks as he wracked his brain for the charm he would use.

His face suddenly seemed to brighten and the boy waved his wand, immediately a deafening opera tenor was bellowing from the tiny tomato, however instead of the national anthem it appeared to be singing, "- and she'll tease you, she'll unease you, all the better just to please you, she's precocious, and she knows just, what it takes to make a pro blush, she's got Greta Garbo's standoff sighs, she's got Bette Davis eyes."

Sirius began to hoot with laughter as Peter turned bright pink and Professor Flitwick hurriedly ended the charm with a wave of his wand, his cheery face practically radiating amusement he cheerfully awarded Peter a smile and the tiny boy scattered from the room his eyes wide and a dreary groan leaving his lips as he left the classroom, "will that song always come back to haunt me?" he groaned as Sirius snickered like crazy.

Remus was all but shoved into the classroom by the remaining classroom and Sirius and James stretched on their toes to watch as their friend nervously moved toward the front desk. He had gone dreadfully pale as he weakly listened to Flitwicks instructions before being told to begin.

They watched as he stood stock still for all of a minute, his mind obviously working frantically before it seemed as if a dawn of light shone on him, his face brightening he gave them a thumbs up before turning and waving his wand. In a strong clear voice the national anthem rang out through the classroom and into the hall, it appeared however that wasn't only what the werewolf had done.

His eyes bulged as the tomato began to swell at a rapid rate, taking one look at the Professor the pair both flattened on the floor as the tomato, now the size of a quaffle, exploded spraying the class with it's juice and flesh. James' eyes widened before he turned towards Sirius and the pair exploded with laughter, Flitwick let out a groan as he stood and glanced at Remus, giving a grudging mutter that he 'had' made the tomato sing and it 'had' been the national anthem.

The werewolf trailed out his face half relieved and half worried that he wouldn't end up passing after all. He laughed numbly as he tried to perform the Marauder handshake three times simultaneously and ended up feeling incredibally dizzy. "These exams aren't good for my health" Peter mumbled as the lot of them trailed off leaving the remainder of the class who had not performed it already behind.

James paused slightly turning back to the class he gave a small grin, "good luck Lily" he called out before the group continued off towards the kitchens in hope of some sort of pick-me-up from the house-elves to prevent the less fortunate pair of Marauders from thinking of their mistakes.

*****

"I think I was just nervous" Remus announced finally as he dug his spoon into the large tub of chocolate icecream they had recieved from the kitchens and stuck it into his mouth thoughtfully. Peter nodded his agreement, "I just couldn't get that damn song out of my head" he said with a sigh. Peter dug his spoon viciously into the icecream and shovelled it into his mouth, wincing he squished his eyes shut. "Icecream headache" he groaned and Sirius and James grinned at each other.

"Do you guys remember when we filled the Slytherin Dungeons with snow?" James sighed dreamily as he reclined on the sofa, the dim light of Marauder HQ casting an eery glint off of his glasses and casting his face into shadows. The painting on the wall gave a haughty snort, "bunch of hooligans.." was the indignant mutter and Sirius cast him a look. "Can it you!" he objected and the painting sniffily turned its head as though ignoring them.

"Look what you've done Siri. You've gone and upset him now" Remus said with a snicker, waving his spoon at the painting he called out sympathetically, "it's alright Marvin, he didn't mean it". The painting cast him a peevish look before resuming his sulking while James snickered loudly. "He obviously doesn't like you either Remy, it's obvious his favourite is me - Right Marvin?".

A surly grunt was all they got in response from the portrait and Sirius shrugged, "guess not Jimmy. Perhaps Pete's been sucking up to him?". The smallest boy pulled a face at Sirius from where he sat curled up in the corner of one of the musty sofas that had been pulled forwards to sit against the desk so they all had equal access to icecream and other assortment of food that they had gathered.

"D'you reckon we should invite Lily here sometime?". James' question hung in the air for several moments before Sirius turned towards his friend, "proceed" he instructed lazily and James pulled a face. "Well it's not like she has many friends at the moment, and I'm sure that Sally doesn't just leave their fights in the common room."

Remus nodded quietly, "I guess James is right, if I was Lily I wouldn't want to be stuck with Sally in the same dorm as me" he spoke up with a shrug of his shoulders. "- And Lils is alright for a girl" Sirius added with a grin which was met with a roll of eyes from James who began muttering about his friend in not the most flattering manner.

"Your lucky I can't decipher your mumbling language Potter or I'd surely be creaming you by now" Sirius added lazily his eyes resting on the boy who merely grinned in a winning manner. "Never Siri, never" he replied as he snagged a pumpkin pastie from the table and munched down on it with a grin. "Heres to us passing the exams...fingers crossed anyway" he proposed raising the half eaten pastie.

The other Marauders scrambled to grab for other varieties of food to toast with before echoing James' toast and munching down on the food, courtesy of Hogwarts' house-elves. Lazing in the musty furniture four very content Gryffindors grinned around at each other, in a promise of many more years to come they would remain as they were now, the infamous pranksters of Hogwarts' darkest days.

*****

Remus' face was a true picture as he finished his last exam of the year. Not to mention the fact that it was by far the easiest by his standards, Defense Against Dark Arts of course being his very own specialty. He grinned at Peter who was waiting aside from the other students for the rest of his friends, Remus lazily took a seat and beamed around the courtyard, forever glad that the living hell that were exams were finally over for the year. 

"Well Pete, how'd you do?". The smallest Marauder glanced up with a small smile, "with a teacher like Moore theres only so well a guy like me can do" the boy announced and Remus grinned. "He's not that bad Pete, he just has a twisted sense of humor is all". The pair lazily basked in the midday sun as they waited for James and Sirius to re-appear from the classroom.

"I can't believe a whole years gone by" Peter murmured aloud finally his eyes trained on a floating wisp of cloud that remarkably resembled Snapes nose. "I know" Remus murmured vaguely his eyes following a cloud that appeared grotesquely alike Avery's face. He pulled a face and began to humm lightly, jumping when Sirius' voice boomed in his ear, "NO MORE EXAMS!".

Rubbing his ear he grinned at his friend, "we are aware Siri" he commented lazily cracking an eye toward Peter who was grinning broadly as he reclined on the seat. The rest of the class clustered about in their own groups, Sirius flopped down in between them his eyes practically gleaming, "typical Potter, holding us up".

The bespectacled boy pulled a face at them as he exited and gave a sarcastic, "sorry Black". He all but skipped toward the group his face a mixture of trying to resume his picture of bitter sarcasm and half ectastic to have finished his exams. "Well guys, any ideas for the end of year feast?" he questioned as he dropped onto the seat and glanced over the faces.

"Jamie..we just got out of an exam, give us a rest would ya?" Peter moaned hiding his face in his hands. "Pete! How could you say such a thing! The end of year feast is the biggest event of the year!" James squalked in indignation and was met by a nod of approval from Sirius, "thats right Jamie m'lad, you tell him".

Peter muttered indiscretely and slumped in his seat to shoot half-hearted glances at the other Marauders from where two out of three were planning the next 'big' launch into Hogwarts' history. Remus lazily grinned up at the sky, half-listening to the plotting pair as he hummed toward the sky in an abstract fashion.

The other Marauders paused in their conversation to watch curiously as the boy serenely hummed to himself and appeared to be rather amused by something which had caught his eye. Sirius and James exchanged sniggering looks as they followed his eyes toward the sky before raising eyebrows and once more exchanging, now baffled glances.

Peter grumpily stared between the lot of them before following their eyes toward the skies, "that's an awfully large bird" he commented off-handedly as the giant 'bird' swooped past. "Hanglider" Remus corrected absently, "an awfully confused Hanglider". Sirius began to snicker to himself and glanced toward the baffled Muggle who was swooping ever closer to the ground peering at them in confusion.

As they watched on the swish of robes sounded and Minerva Mcgonagall swept out rising her wand and crying out efficiently "Stupefy!". Like a stone the muggle and hanglider dropped toward the ground, slowed by a lazy "Impedimenta" before being drifted toward the castle without a word edgewise to the four first years who watched in amusement.

"Suppose stuff like that is a regular occurance then..." Peter suggested with a shrug and James raised an eyebrow. "I suppose Pete" he replied before turning his eyes back on the group. "So about the feast..".

*****

Remus squirmed in his seat, his eyes drifting from each of his friends faces as rows upon rows of students faces, illuminated by candle-light staring eagerly up at the headmaster, awaiting his customary speech and the announcement of the House cup. Soft whispering shadowed the hall as the suspense built, and finally with one last swig from his goblet the wisened headmaster of the school stood calmly, the gentle whispering ceased and the school as one body stared up at him expectantly.

"A school year gone". The school was completely silent as the giant silken banners reflected the dancing candle-light. "However I must trouble you of course with an old mans trivial whaffling before we tuck into this splendid feast... What a year this has been! As I understand it the house cup needs awarding and the points stand thus:in fourth place; Hufflepuff with two hundred and seventy six points; In third, Gryffindor with three hundred and twenty three; In fourth Slytherin with three hundred and thirty one and Ravenclaw, four hundred and thirteen".

An eruption of cheers exploded from the Ravenclaw table and amongst them it appeared that the Ravenclaw prefects had dissapeared under a huddle of excited fifth years. "Yes well done Ravenclaw". The walls were casually cast into light and in honour of the winning house brilliant blue and bronze banners decorated the hall. The giant Ravenclaw eagle in all it's glory towering in the pride of place.

A smirking Professor Moore was batting his eyelashes at Professor Luff who had turned milk-white with a sour glare in place. Moore, as the head of Ravenclaw house; which in itself was quite a mystery as the most insane of Professors represented the most sane of houses; stood up on the staff table and began a victory jig. "Boo! Get off the stage!" Sirius yelled loudly from Remus' side who couldn't help but grin as the Professor continued on with an uncouth hand gesture in Sirius' direction.

The Ravenclaws however clapped their head of house on wildly their usually serious atmosphere lively and filled with cheer. When Moore was abruptly drawn back into his table by a length of rope courtesy of Mcgonagall the Ravenclaws all let out loud boo's of dissapointment while the Gryffindors cheered loudly.

"Well, lets tuck in then shall we?" Dumbledore called out and the feast spread it's way over the five tables in a magnificent display of culinary skill on the House Elves part.

Remus grinned as James glanced at his wizarding watch and whispered beneath his breath, "five...four....three....two....one".

With a giant explosion food was thrown up into the air from all angles, coating the entire hall in a range of mashed potato, to gravy and mint sauce. The giant splatter as students were pelted with foods of all varieties causing the bewildered hall to stare around themselves, staring pointedly at the widely grinning row of four Gryffindor first years.

Sirius grinned and pulled his friends up with him, forcing them into a group bow as scattered applause took up throughout the hall. "Thankyou! Thankyou!" he roared and was met with an amused chuckle as Dumbledore shook his great head, coated in peas and mashed potato.

*****

The closets were empty again, the first year boys dormitory was so uncommonly spotlessly clean it was undoubtedly Sirius-free. Four Marauders, complete with filled-to-bursting trunks were dragging themselves to the first deserted compartment they found. Their owl cages perched on a crazy angle atop their trunks as they settled in in the empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

The four boys sat almost awkwardly, staring around at the compartment with an anti-climactic sigh Sirius eyed the three other Marauders. "I can't believe we're going home already" he muttered with a moody toss of his head before glancing around the others, "wanna find Lils?" he asked and was met with a nod from the others as a warning whistle sounded.

Sirius rose in his seat and slid the compartment door open peering up and down the hall to find the red-head in question struggling with her trunk. Sirius raced out grinning ear to ear, "Lils! Come sit in with us" he raced forward grabbing one end of the bothersome trunk and dragging it toward their compartment. Lily followed behind with a small sigh of relief as she followed Sirius into the compartment and found the other three Marauders engaged in their own activities.

James was reading from a worn thin black book that looked rather suspicious in Lily's eyes while Peter stared out the window as the train lurched into movement, Remus was tuning his guitar while sitting crosslegged on the seat. Lily sat in the seat that Sirius ushered her to before he plopped down between Remus and Peter grinning as he peered curiously at the boy as he carefully tuned the guitar.

"C'mon Remy, play already" he announced impatiently leaning over to snatch the pile of papers from Remus' lap and beginning to sift through them thoughtfully. Remus shook his head and grabbed one from relatively near the top of the pile and glanced over the lyrics quietly before righting his guitar and beginning to pick out a tune through the strings. His face was vaguely bitter as he began to sing, his eyes intent on his fingers rather then looking up at his friends.

"Let's sing a song for the broken hearted,  
A silent prayer for faith departed,  
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd,  
You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud.

It's my life,   
And it's now or never,  
I ain't gonna live forever,  
I just wanna live when I'm alive,  
I'ts my life.  
My heart is like an open highway,  
Life break this shit,  
I did it my way.  
I just wanna live while I'm alive,  
It's my life.

This is for the ones who stood their ground,  
For Siri and Jim, who never back down,  
tommorrows getting harder make no mistakes,  
look you need to look you gotta make your own breaks.

It's my life,   
And it's now or never,  
I ain't gonna live forever,  
I just wanna live when I'm alive,  
I'ts my life.  
My heart is like an open highway,  
Life break this shit,  
I did it my way.  
I just wanna live while I'm alive,  
It's my life.

You better stand tall when they're calling aloud,  
Don't make no break baby don't back down.

It's my life,   
And it's now or never,  
I ain't gonna live forever,  
I just wanna live when I'm alive,  
I'ts my life.  
My heart is like an open highway,  
Life break this shit,  
I did it my way.  
I just wanna live while I'm alive,  
It's my life.  
  
And it's now or never,  
I ain't gonna live forever,  
I just wanna live when I'm alive,  
I'ts my life.  
My heart is like an open highway,  
Life break this shit,  
I did it my way.  
I just wanna live while I'm alive,  
Cause it's my life".

Remus carefully laid the sheet aside and glanced up to find the others all watching him and he blinked and shifted the guitar in his lap with a nervous glance around at them. "What?" he mumbled uncomfortably and they all shook their heads and began asking for another song.

The boy shrugged and began began to sing by himself, not bothering with his guitar as the others began to join in with the song he grinned slightly.

"When the night has come,  
And the land is dark,  
And the moon is the only light we'll see.

No I won't be afraid,  
Oh I won't be afraid,  
Just as long, as you stand,  
stand by me.

So darling darling   
Stand, Stand by me,  
Oh stand, Stand by me. Stand by me.

If the sky, that we look upon,  
Should tumble and fall,  
or the mountains should crumble   
into the sea,  
  
I won't cry I won't cry,  
No I won't shed a tear,  
Just as long as you stand,  
Stand by me.

So darling darling   
Stand, Stand by me,  
Oh stand, Stand by me. Stand by me.

Darling Darling  
Stand, by me,  
Stand by me,  
Stand, by me,  
Stand by me,  
Stand by me,  
Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand,  
by me,  
oh stand, stand by me.

Stand by me."

*****

The group of four boys stared around themselves reluctantly, none of them quite wishing to leave as their parents began to hone in on them like sharks looking for prey. As Peters mother swooped forward with a call of, "Peter! Peter I've been looking all over for you!", the boy turned a brilliant shade of red and mumbled "see you". 

Sirius grinned, "I'll owl you" he announced and this was mirrored by James and Remus. The smallest Marauder shuffled off after his mother, a plain, rather dumpy sort of woman with wispy hair that had the same colourless quality of her sons. The remaining three all groaned simultaneously as from three directions their parents swooped in on them like vultures.

All three eyed each other as Oliver Black took off at a run towards them upon seeing James' father coming from a different angle, Marcus Potter appeared to have seen the challenge and took off at a run towards the group as well, at an obvious handicap as Oliver had seen them first.

When the young-at-heart Auror arrived he threw his arms up in the air yelling, "you lose Potter!". When Marcus arrived panting he cast a glare at the Black, "you cheated Black" he grumbled shoving his glasses up his nose before standing up straight to try and appear dignified to the members of the wizarding community who knew him as a Potter.

James groaned and hung his head while Sirius crowed loudly, "good one dad". Remus gave a perplexed look between the pair, both very similar to their sons and tried hard to hold back the amused smirk that had twisted his lips. Oliver blinked upon seeing the third of the group and peered at him thoughtfully, "Oliver Black" he introduced himself holding out a sweaty hand.

Remus shook it none-the-less with a casual reply of, "Remus Lupin". James' father offered his hand blinking, "Lupin.. isn't there a Lupin in the French ministry..". Remus turned slightly pink and nodded slightly, "Remus!". He jumped abruptly and swept his head around as his own father and mother approached from behind.

The thick french accent that rolled off of the Lupin's tongues seemed to abruptly convince Marcus Potter that this indeed, was that 'Lupin from the French Ministry'. Remus seemed to shrink when his parents arrived and he weakly smiled from Sirius to James as both Jaque and Marie Lupin stopped behind him and glanced around at the two other boys and their obvious fathers.

"You must be Remus' father" Oliver began brightly extending a hand, "I'm Oliver Black" he extended his hand to Jaque who accepted it. "Jaque Lupin" was the heavily accented response, "and my wife Marie". "Marcus Potter" James' father announced extending his hand formally once Oliver had released the mans.

"We should be going, we have a very long way to travel" Jaque spoke up glancing down at his son. "Come along Remus", the boy gave a smile and a goodbye to Sirius and James before following his parents away from the crowded platform.

*****


	19. Flake

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Eighteen: Flake.

A/n: Yes! EXAMS ARE OVER! WoOoOoHoooHOOO! I am so stoked right now ^_^ this is a little bit random, I personally was abit dubious about posting it. It seems kind of outta place, but hopefully it won't to you! If it does seem completely random and absolutely stupid. For gods sakes tell me so I can change it! :S Aah Well! Lotsa stuff today, got lotsa chapters to post and write, Exams leave no room for imagination -.-;;   
Random Piece of Info: Presently listening to Nightmare from Yuu Yuu Hakusho - o_O;; Very disturbing, Surprisingly a Kurama song. Hmmm. Ahh well, read on and tell me whatchoo think.

*****

Sirius sat boredly cross-legged on his bed, his record-player was blaring as loud as it could go, purposely to bug his mother who had already shrieked at him to stop playing that dreadful music several times that morning. He hummed along with the music boredly, wishing that by some act of god James would realise he needed saving and would appear magically to take all his boredom away.

There was almost immediately a giant shriek from downstairs and hysterical laughter. Sirius blinked and stood slowly, turning the volume down on his record player he grinned slightly. "I must be psychic" he mused aloud as footsteps thumped up the first stairway and came crashing towards his room.

Surely enough as he opened his door James Potter, wild-eyed and tousel-haired skidded in through his doorway. Sirius' mother not five feet behind him hurling abuse. "MOTHER!". Lucrezia Black paused on her tyrade to glance at her son who was grinning that infuriating lopsided grin of his, "James is a guest" he said in a scolding tone and recieved a rather rude snap that sounded distinctly like, "guest my foot".

James sniggered behind his hands as she stomped downstairs and Oliver stuck his head out of his study blinking at the pair, "what in Merlins name was that about?" he exclaimed raising an eyebrow. James shrugged innocently, "I must have scared her when I came out of the floo I guess...". Oliver shrugged before withdrawing back into his study.

The pair glanced at each other before all but bouncing into Sirius' room and were pleasantly surprised to see a fine looking owl with thick tawny plumage perched with all the dignity it could muster on Sirius' window sill. Sirius strolled over and took the letter that was extended to him, grinning brightly at the owl as he glanced at the strange looking wax seal as he slid the letter open.

"Dear Siri,

I don't think I've ever been quite so bored out of my brain. Save me soon before I think of doing something drastic, such as shaving my head to see how fast my hair grows.

My Parents are out, come through the Floo. It's listed under Chateu Lupin (how original)

From Remus

P.S...Bring Jim and Pete if you can manage it".

Sirius blinked at the letter before handing it to James with a raised eyebrow. James grinned broadly and glanced at his friend, "I've never been to France before...".

*****

Sirius stumbled out of the fireplace coughing loudly, bumping straight into James who was staring around himself with wide eyes. Now James' family was most likely one of the wealthiest Wizarding Families in Britain, but James Potter had never seen anything quite so extravagent as the room in which he stood in at that moment.

Sirius paused in brushing himself off to participate in the wide-eyed staring before his eyes finally rested on Remus who was perched on the arm of a sofa, watching them with an amused grin in place. He, like the pair before him, was dressed casually. In fraying bell-bottoms and his Hendrix t-shirt and looking distinctly out of place in the grandeur of the house.

"Geeze Remy" Sirius muttered and Remus gave a small shrug. "All of it was inherited" he mumbled with a shrug. "Isn't Pete with you?" he asked abruptly and James shook his head grinning madly. "Ahh! That's where our little plan comes in". Remus glanced at them and raised an eyebrow,"plan?". "We're taking a day trip to Diagon Alley, meeting Pete at the Leaky Cauldron, his father still owns it you know".

Remus' face brightened, "great" he announced grinning. "Lemme go get some shoes", the pair followed him curiously as they left the Living area and strolled up a magnificently polished mahogany staircase. Remus' room was situated right down the hall and appeared to be the only part of the house that wasn't completely spotless. Clothes were strewn across the floor and a pair of sneakers lay amongst the pile, as Remus soon proved by fishing them out and pulling them on his feet.

He went to grab his money pouch but was stopped by Sirius and James however who grinned. "Nope, no money!" they announced and grabbed his arms, "just your guitar" Sirius added grabbing the case as they headed back toward the staircase. 

"What're we doing?" he asked dubiously glancing at his friends as they grinned at him, identical gleams in their eyes as Sirius withdrew a small newspaper cutting from his pocket and offered it to him. Remus flattened it out and scanned the advertisement with a frown. "C'mon guys! We'd have to be at least seventeen to get into a pub let alone enter a competition..".

Sirius tapped his pocket conspicuously with a grin, "don't worry Remy, it's all in good fun". Rolling his eyes Remus took a pinch of emerald powder from an out-of-place flower pot on the mantel before offering it to his friends. "Let's go then shall we?". Sirius grinned and took a pinch from the flower pot, "don't mind if I do" he replied. Casting the powder into the dancing flames he announced brashly, "Diagon Alley!". Stepping into the whirl of emerald flames he abruptly dissapeared, apparently up the chimney.

James shrugged and took his own pinch from the flower pot, grinning at Remus as he removed his glasses and tucked them carefully into his jeans pocket. "Always hated this thing, see you on the other side". With this he turned to the fire and cast the pinch into the grate, "Diagon Alley!".

With another whirl of emerald flames the second Marauder dissapeared. Remus grimly set the flower pot back on the mantel and cast the emerald powder into the flames, with an almost dreading shout of "Diagon Alley!" he stepped into the grate and was whisked away through the flames.

He soon however tumbled straight out of another fireplace and found himself lying facefirst on the soft cushioned carpet that lay infront of the giant crackling fireplace inside the infamous Leaky Cauldron. He groaned as he heard snickering and stood up, carefully balancing on wobbly knees and thanking his lucky stars that his guitar had been carefully positioned across his back.

He began to brush himself off, letting his disorientated mind regather itself to process properly. He finally glanced around and met Sirius' grinning face, James was looking decidedly green not two feet away and a broadly smiling Peter was looking decidedly happy to see him. "Morning Pete" he murmured dazedly rubbing his head before smiling at his friend. "Morning" was the chipper reply as he glanced over his shoulder toward Tom the Bar Keeper who was grinning toothily at them all.

"Aah. I suppose this is the little gang themselves. I must say, I've never heard so many entertaining stories about four boys from Hogwarts in all my days" he grinned over at them all before glancing toward Peter in particular. "Now Pete, your mother told me earlier that she wants you back no later then seven tonight alright? And no sneaking off into Muggle London, I've got me eyes open alright?".

Peter turned pinker then usual and nodded, "alright Tom" he agreed and the barkeeper nodded once again to them all before moving back down the bar to serve a red-faced wizard who seemed bursting to get whatever it was he wanted right then and now.

Sirius rubbed his hands together with glee before glancing around at them all, "you got your guitar still Remy? Good". He waved them out to the courtyard and lazily counted the brickwall before withdrawing his wand and tapping it as he spoke to them, "now. I suggest we busk for a while, just so we can get some outfits y'know. So we look proper when we go onstage". 

Peter abruptly shook his head his eyes narrowed with resolution, "no way. No stage for me". Sirius glanced at his friend, "but Pete!" he whined in frustration and the smaller boy shook his head stubbornly. "No!". Sirius mumbled somewhat before sighing and shrugging, "alright then". "Okay then, but Siri...what's the point in this anyway?" Remus inquired quietly and his friend merely withheld a mysterious smile, "you'll see Remy".

The four boys moved through the sparse crowd of early morning Diagon Alley, apparently searching for a good place to set up. They finally settled on James' pick, right outside Florean Fortescue's Icecream Parlour. James having asked the vendor pleadingly who had grinned somewhat and even offered them a few stools in case they wanted to sit down at all.

Sirius scrambled after James to help carry the stools leaving Peter and Remus to set up. Remus carefully offering Peter his stack of song-sheets while he lifted his guitar from its case as though it were made of glass. He began to tune it as Peter arranged the papers in a stack, pinned down by the neck of the guitar case which had been left open, obviously for donations.

When the other two appeared, huffing and puffing with two heavy stools each under either arm already a few curious bodies were casting glances in their direction. Remus gladly took a seat and balanced his guitar lightly over his knees, glancing between each of his friends expectantly before somewhat nervously casting his eyes over the lightly populated street.

"Well Remy, shall we start?" Sirius proposed somewhat sarcastically, his eyes glittering somewhat suspiciously. "What song?" he mumbled somewhat nervously glancing around at the curious stares that were on the group, he had seen buskers in Muggle London, they usually didn't get paid much notice, the occasional interested passerby might pause, perhaps offer some money then move on.

Taking in a deep breath he glanced at his friends, "well?" he hissed. Sirius grinned, "start off with something we all know, then we can sing along y'know. So you don't get all self-conscious on us". Remus turned pink and glared at the boy, "any preferences?" he replied with an air of coolness.

"On second thoughts" he cut Sirius off as the boy opened his mouth and was met with a frown. "I'll choose" he added grinning infuriatingly at the darkhaired boy as he carefully repositioned his guitar and began to calmly pick out a few strings to warm up his fingers before getting serious.

He grinned at his friends off-handedly, lightly picking out a very low deep sounding tune, causing Sirius to beam at him and James to grin somewhat less enthusiastically glancing nervously around himself as Remus took up the lead and Sirius fell into harmony along with him.

"When the night has come,  
And the land is dark,  
And the moon is the only light we'll see.

No I won't be afraid,  
Oh I won't be afraid,  
Just as long, as you stand,  
stand by me.

So darling darling   
Stand, Stand by me,  
Oh stand, Stand by me. Stand by me."

*****

Remus nodded brightly as a passing wizard flipped a galleon into the case before giving a jovial wave and continuuing on his way. They had attracted quite a large crowd, something that Florean Fortescue was extremely greatful for and was showing his appreciation by bringing them free sundae's every hour and all the drinks they wanted.

In James' opinion it was the best time he'd ever had in Diagon Alley and was revelling in all its glory while it lasted. Sirius had handed over the singing reigns to Remus fully for the last twenty minutes as he savoured in a chocolate fudge sundae with all the trimmings, his face practically radiation his satisfaction.

Remus withdrew a sheet from his stack thoughtfully and glanced over it, he grinned before settling on it. The song he had completed during his exams.

He began to strum the chords accordingly closing his eyes lazily as he began to sing the song that his fellow Marauders had yet to hear, one of many in fact.

"I know she said it's alright, you can make it up next time.   
I know she knows it's not right, there ain't no use in lying.   
Maybe she thinks I know something, Maybe, Maybe she thinks it's fine.   
Maybe she knows something I don't, I'm so, so tired of trying.

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one, no nah, no-one likes to be let down."

He grinned at his fellow Marauders interested looks as he concentrated on the guitar before nodding his head as another person added a few sickles to their growing collection before continuuing.

"I know she loves the sunrise, no longer sees it with her sleeping eyes.   
I know that when she said she's gonna try, well it might not work because of other ties,   
and I know she usually has some other ties and I wouldn't wanna break 'em,   
no I wouldn't wanna break em.   
Maybe she'll help me to untie this, but until then well, I'm gonna have to lie to you. 

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one no nah noone likes to be let down. 

It seems to me that maybe, pretty much always means no.   
So don't tell me, you might just let it go.   
And often times we're lazy, it seems to stand in my way.   
Cos no-one nah noone likes to be let down. "

He grinned slightly as the easier more placid strumming dissapeared and a more wild, stronger sound entered in its place being picked out with nimble fingers as Remus began to lightly bop his head along with the music. His voice flitting up a register to reveal more rythm and range then the entire song put together.

"The harder that you try baby the harder you fall,   
even with all the money in the whole wide world.   
Please please, please don't pass me,   
please please, please dont pass me,   
please please,please don't pass me by.   
  
Everything you know bout me now baby you gonna have to change,   
you gonna call it by a brand new name.   
Please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me down.   
  
Just like a tree down by the water baby I show no mood,   
even after all the silly things you do.  
Please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me,   
please please, please don't track me down."

The guitar faded out and he grinned at his friends before glancing up at the small gathering of people who had stopped to listen to him play, they obligingly added their own donations murmuring to each other about the performance as they wandered on. Some lingering in hopes of hearing more from the boy who glanced across at Sirius who seemed ready enough to resume his position as singer or back-up.

*****

The morning passed by quickly and soon enough it was midday, the boys in dire need of a pick-up after the mornings events packed up their guitarcase, now jangling with coins and Remus slipped his guitar over his back, returning the stools to Florean and suggesting they might come back later they strolled off down the streets jovially looking for somewhere to eat from.

Peter began to lazily suggest several good spots for eating inside Diagon Alley as they strode down the street cheerfully, Sirius carefully lugging the guitar case with him as James announced loudly. "Hold on! This place", he had stopped suddenly in his path, the others turned their heads back to their friend questioningly to find him standing infront of an open fronted lazy looking cafe. 

It appeared reasonably busy and wizards and witches alike were basking in the sunlight of the day, chatting lazily over their meals. "M'dad swears by their food" he answered to their questioning looks and the others shrugged and followed him through the courtyard and into the sheltered cafe area.

The four boys had fun choosing the strangest meals they could find on the menu before taking their number and paying the not-so-pleased shop assistant with handfuls of their aquired coins. Cheerfully the four moved away to snag a table and placed their number in the middle of the table, "that was fun". Remus nodded his head in agreement with Sirius as he lounged in his chair, "so what about this competition you were talking about then?". James beamed at him brightly, "it was my idea actually. Saw it in the Daily Prophet and thought it could be fun, we just need to take a few drops of aging potion and then we're set".

"And where did you get aging potion?" Remus asked somewhat dubiously and Sirius beamed, "m'dads stores. He has quite a few useful little potions in there". Remus shook his head with a groan, "shouldn't've asked" he muttered to himself before shrugging. "Well what song should we sing then? I mean my acoustics okay for busking you know, but for a competition I dunno..".

Sirius grinned slyly, "ever used an electric Remy?". The boys eyes widened and he straightened in his chair, a somewhat dreamy haze taking over his eyes he let out a far-away sigh. "Er...Remy?". Peter poked his friend heavily in the arm and the werewolf sat up with a start his eyes widening, "sorry" he mumbled and was met with accepting nods.

"Once" he murmured in response to the question. "Rom brought one home once, it was awesome" his eyes began to phase away into that same dreamy haze again and Peter hurriedly punched him in the arm. "Ouch! Sorry" he repeated with a sheepish grin, "why'd you ask?". "Well they are providing instruments of course Remy m'lad" James announced putting the suspicious boy out of his misery.

"Awesome" he breathed staring around at his friend with a sigh of contentment. "Well, what song are we gonna sing then?" Remus spoke up somewhat frantically now. Sirius held his hand out expectantly and Remus offered the stack of song sheets which were promptly taken. James leaned over and began to glance through them with Sirius thoughtfully as their lunch was set down infront of them by a waitress who appeared to be in her mid-teens.

She eyed them somewhat suspiciously before she rolled her eyes and muttered beneath her breath, "gryffindor brats" and stalked away looking not-so-happy. "Who was that?" Peter spoke up blinking and Sirius glanced up, "who?" he asked in surprise. "The waitress you git" James supplied his eyes not leaving the paper. 

"Tracey something, she's in Slytherin. Fourth year I think, think she sang that duet when we charmed the Slytherins food at the beggining of the year" Remus supplied as he dug into his food. Peter nodded, "oh." James glanced away from the sheets and began to dig into his food cheerfully, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"I reckon we should do something different. Y'know, really heavy" Sirius supplied as he glanced over the sheets as he shovelled food into his mouth. "That could work" Peter mused as he picked at his food somewhat doubtfully before eventually shovelling it down just like the others.

"Yeah. Something that'll stand out". "How could it not Jamie m'lad. It'll be us on stage won't it?" Sirius quipped and was met with several somewhat amused grins before he returned to his inspection of Remus' leaflets of songs.

*****

Sirius stared nervously in through the window of Madam Malkin's dress shop. James was snickering to himself at their dilemma, the competition was to begin at 4.00pm sharp, it was presently 3.15pm. The group had earned enough money for their wardrobe, but were now faced with the dilemma of asking a woman who had threatened to skin two of their number alive if they ever returned to the shop.

Remus glanced around before finally speaking up, "maybe if we took the aging potion now, she wouldn't recognise us Siri" he offered and Sirius nodded with a sigh. "I guess Remy, it could work". In a suspicious manner the group of four crept around down the alleyway between the dress-shop and its neighbour.

Sirius gulped before uncorking the potion marked clearly, 'Aging Potion'. He carefully tipped several drips down his throat before hurriedly passing the bottle on to James and waiting for the results. For several moments it appeared nothing was happening, then suddenly it happened. Sirius' legs began to lengthen dramatically, his skin deepening into a bolder olive tan, his hair growing even longer. 

His face became more defined, shedding the last of it's puppy fat and becoming decidedly as handsome. As a whole he had the appearance of a gypsy, the gold of his earring shining in a dim patch of sunlight. He began to laugh, his voice having deepened dramatically as he patted his toned arms and chest in delight.

James glanced at his friend before gulping and taking his own dose of the potion. He to sprung up dramatically, towering high over the two remaining twelve year olds, his hair lengthened into a shaggy messy mop that seemed to suit him well. Having shed the long and lanky awkward stage that he had been going through it became apparent James was quite handsome, he also appeared in fine athletic condition.

Peter stared down at the bottle now placed in his hands and squished his eyes shut before swallowing several drops. In a manner of seconds he was growing, he stopped much short of James and Sirius, which wasn't much of a surprise. His corn-flour hair dangling low in his eyes, he was just as thin as he had been. Yet looking alot less awkward as he now carried it with ease.

He passed the bottle to Remus who grinned at his friends nervously before dripping the remainder of the potion onto his tongue and swallowing. He to shot up to stand somewhere just below Sirius' height, his hair had deepened into a much more defined auburn brown. He to had lost the little fat from his cheeks and he seemed to have grown into his sinuous muscles. 

He was slender and wiry, with broadshoulders and a slender waist, his legs long and powerful. Somehow the teenager seemed so much more like the rugged wolf that he was supposed to be. Fluffing his bangs out of his eyes he glanced around at the rest of the Marauders and grinned. "Let's go get prepared shall we?".

The Marauders shuffled out of the alley way and sauntered towards the door to the dress-makers shop. Sirius having casually hoisted the guitar case over his shoulder, Madam Malkin sat at her desk, apparently scanning over her accounts as she was wearing a pair of spectacles and pinching her nose in frustration.

"'Ello" Sirius called out cheerfully, meeting Remus' eyes with a wink. She glanced up to take in the strange group of teenagers. All of them seeming strangely familiar yet she was sure she had never set eyes on a single on of these lads in her life. "How can I help you?" she asked wearily rising to her feet.

"Actually" James began glaring at Sirius as though to silence him. "My friends and I are entering the competition tonight, but it seems we have nothing suitable to wear. Perhaps you could help?", Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced at his friend, who seemed to have suddenly nailed the ability to sweet-talk woman.

Sirius also seemed suitably impressed while Peter muttered indiscretely to himself, "I'm sure I could find something suitable" Madam Malkin replied all to happy to help out. She waved them forwards, "now. Which of you wants to go first?". Sirius immediately shoved Remus forward, "he does" was the calm amused murmur.

Remus cast a disgruntled look over his shoulder before moving himself forward with as much dignity as he could muster. "I apologize for my friend, he seems to have forgotten his manners" the werewolf announced airily casting a smirk at his friend and discretely sticking his tongue out.

"What look are you going for?" she asked casually. "Mysterious" Sirius spoke up with a snicker and was shot another glare. The woman gave a small amused sort of smile before sweeping away through the racks filled with odd assortments of clothing, for the most part normal wizarding wear, robes, dress-robes and of course the standard Hogwarts uniform being major parts of the racks.

However every now and then she would pluck something from the rack that wouldn't be out of place at a muggle rock concert. Or for that matter, a Muggle Carnival. The strangest garments Remus had ever laid eyes on seemed to pile upon the womans arm before she returned and began to usher him toward the dressing room, the three others following with amused smiles on their faces.

Madam Malkin smiled as she shoved garments into his arms before he locked the door of the changing room behind him. Within minutes the boy repaired, decked out in -very- tight leather pants and a black plain t-shirt that had been artfully ripped across the chest and sleeves.

He glared as James held back snickers and crossed his arms as Madam Malkin smiled brightly, "perfect. Very mysterious" she announced and he shrugged vaguely. "Now it's his turn" he deliberately shoved Sirius forwards and smiled nastily at his friend as he turned a murderous glare upon him.

Remus scrummaged to pick up his robes and folded them untidily before leaning back against a wall with Peter and James to wait. They didn't have to wait long however as Sirius reappeared quickly in pants much alike Remus', causing James to snicker even more. Sirius however had been offered a black trenchcoat along with them and wore the same black-tshirt as Remus. He shrugged at them before lazily pushing Peter forward who sent a glare at the lot of them.

Peter ended up in flared black jeans and a black shirt, while James was thrown into a black button down shirt and another set of black jeans. He glanced at Madam Pomfrey with a raised eyebrow, "what's with all the black?" she shrugged. "It suits you?" she explained with a shrug before moving toward the register to ring up the expensive shopping that made a giant dent in their profits for the day.

The four traipsed out of the dress-makers feeling slightly jipped and rather giddy as they followed James' direction toward where the 'competition' was being held. Now James had never bothered to fill Remus in on the minor details of the competition, something that might have swayed the were-wolfs acceptance to perform. For once it wasn't just a little competition as James had suggested, indeed it was an international talent festival. 

The other factor that might have swayed Remus' decision was that he was performing alone. With only the back-up band to accompany him. It had of course been Sirius' idea to let their friend perform alone, as he was the one who knew his songs inside out where the others had no idea.

Gleefully James gestured toward a simple wooden door to a moderately sized concrete building, Sirius grinning opened the door, Peter following him through while James shepharded Remus through. There was a screech of, "HOLY SHIT".

What had been a moderately sized building from the outside was a gigantic stadium inside, writhing with lively action. It took all Sirius' and James' strength to hold Remus down as he tried to bolt back for the door yelling of their betrayal. Peter watched in bemused amazement as James and Sirius dragged their friend toward the closest of official looking men holding a clipboard.

"Name" was the bored drawl. James glanced at his friend grinning, "Lupin, Remus". The man began to flip through his sheets scanning the clipboard before he grinned, "sure. Your on stage three in half an hour. Good luck". Sirius helped James to drag the boy forcibly through the crowds toward the stage marked with a large glittering three.

"C'mon Remy" Sirius tried persuasively. "You'll blow them away, plus..think of the electric guitar mate". Remus seemed to stiffen before his eyes once more hazed over and James raised an eyebrow before shrugging and dragging their friend on toward the backstage area. "Now, which song should he use as his starter. They only get a short try first and it's gotta be a cover, so it's gotta be good".

Sirius ummed and aahed over this before he lightly slapped Remus over the face. "Oi, dreamer-boy. What do you want to sing first?". The werewolf stared at him in puzzled bewilderment, "hmm?". 

They were abruptly deafened as the stage bound warmed up the crowd with a perfected version of the 'wipeout'. "I've got an idea" Peter piped up confidently suddenly, his eyes glinting with a rare shine of brilliance as he turned toward James and whispered discretely in James' ear. James' eyes to sparked with life and he grinned, "I could kiss you Pete!" he crowed suddenly and the boy shied away wide-eyed.

"I was kidding you git" he grunted as Sirius snickered. "..You guys planning on letting me in on this anytime soon?" Remus spoke up cautiously.

*****

Remus shivered as he strode onstage, glancing around as the crowded stadium cheered him onstage enthusiastically. He could feel his insides dissolving as he grimaced and stopped infront of the microphone, his eyes flashing longingly toward the electric guitar as the guitarist lazily strolled toward him.

"Good luck Kid" was the grunt as the sweating mid-twenty year old handed over his instrument and Remus slung it lovingly over his shoulders. Turning back to the crowd he watched as they waited, confused by the hold up. "Here goes.." he mused to himself before nodding to the drummer and began to strum the guitar, chills rolling up his spine.

Leaning toward the microphone he couldn't help but grin at the forms of his fellow Marauders clowning around backstage and waving frantically at him.

"Saw her dancin' there by the record machine,  
knew she must've been about seventeen.  
Beat was goin' strong,  
playing my favourite song.  
I could tell it wouldn't be long,  
Till she was with me.  
Could tell it wouldn't be long till she was with me.

Singin' I love Rock N Roll,  
So put another dime in the jukebox baby,  
I love Rock 'n Roll,  
So put another dime in and dance with me".

He grinned as Sirius pretended to swoon and faint into James' arms. He cut the song short by cutting the second verse, his eyes glittered as he began to sing again.

Singin' I love Rock N Roll,  
So put another dime in the jukebox baby,  
I love Rock 'n Roll,  
So put another dime in and dance with me

I love rock n' roll,  
Cause it soothes my soul.  
Yeah, I love rock'n' roll

Singin' I love Rock N Roll,  
So put another dime in the jukebox baby,  
I love Rock 'n Roll,  
So put another dime in and dance with me

I love Rock N Roll,  
So put another dime in the jukebox baby,  
I love Rock 'n Roll,  
So put another dime in and dance with me

I love Rock N Roll,  
So put another dime in the jukebox baby,  
I love Rock 'n Roll,  
So put another dime in and dance with me."

He finished with a heavy final strum of the guitar before winking at his fellow Marauders off-stage and waving to the crowd before all but running from the stage. He removed the guitar and handed it back to the guitarist who raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging, "good on ya Kid". With that he suavely moved back on-stage leaving three Marauders to all but tackle their friend as they tore forward.

"Good on ya' Remy!" Sirius wailed loudly pouncing his friend in a ferocious bear hug. "Yeah! You were groovy'" James confirmed recieving three very amused looks. "Noooo! James has turned hippy on us Remy!" Sirius yelled in dispair and was met with a heavy smack over the head. "All that's left now Remy, is to see whether you made it to the second round eh?".

"You bet" Remus confirmed grinning ear to ear as his heart rate slowly stopped thumping like a marching band in his chest.

*****


	20. Everwhere You Go

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Nineteen: Everywhere you go.

*****

"What do you mean they need range!".

Sirius winced visibly, shrinking away from the Werewolf who was glaring at him. "I thought this was a competition, not some poncy record deal sign up!". James also winced and shrank back from the Werewolf. "it is Remy! But they're more likely to pick you if you show you can sing any type of song!" Sirius spoke up hastily. The other backstage acts were begginning to look on with minor amusement as the boy backed away from the shorter boy.

"Oh yeah! You guys shoved me into this! The least you could do is tell me all the bloody details!" the Werewolf retorted. Peter laughed nervously, hiding behind James and occasionally glancing out as Remus' face turned redder and redder, his eyes narrowing and shining gold. "Remy! Think of the Electric Guitar!" James yelled out desperately and immediately recieved the reaction he had wanted.

"Besides, we don't even know if you got through to the second round" Peter piped up peeking out from behind James. The werewolfs eyebrow twitched and Sirius hastily piped up, "of course he did Pete! Don't joke around like that...".

"Oi guys! They're putting up the results!" James crowed grabbing Sirius' arm and taking off toward the boards where they were posting up who had made it through to the next section from that group. Remus blinked from his daze and hurried after them, Peter scurrying hurriedly after him upon realising that his friends were gone.

"REMY! YOU'RE IN!" Sirius roared over the excited screams and groans of despair. Remus' face broke into a giant grin and he punched the air victoriously, accidently catching another performer on the chin as he did so. "Er... Sorry" he mumbled sheepishly hurriedly scrambling away as the performer glanced around dazedly rubbing his chin.

Sirius pounced on the werewolf abruptly, successfully tackling him to the ground. With a crash and a grunt James had joined the pile before ceizing Peter around the ankles and dragging him down with them. Bemused by the human sandwich on the floor spectators gathered around curiously to watch the Werewolf at the bottom of the pile begin to turn blue from lack of oxegyn.

"Get off've me!" came the raspy wheeze sending Peter scrambling off the pile, quickly followed by James who ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to maintain the 'cool factor' while Sirius dragged Remus to his feet as he massaged his throat sucking in large quantities of air.

"Wait... What am I gonna sing now?" he suddenly choked out, his eyes widening in panic as he stared around the lot of them. James grinned broadly at his friend "I have just the song" he announced with a mysterious wink before dragging his friend forwards to see which stage he would be performing on next.

*****

"Another cover? When do I get to sing my own songs?" the werewolf moaned aloud as the stage official walked off, leaving James to grin at his friend, now situated backstage of Stage Two. "Remember that day when Lily was feelin' really upset?" he asked grinning at the Werewolf. "Yeah.." he trailed off slowly, eyeing his friend nervously.

"You can sing the song you sung her, in the common room remember!". Remus blinked at him wide-eyed before opening his mouth to protest before he was cut off by Sirius yelling, "yeah! Oi! Mister official person!".

"But - " the man trudged over looking haggled and rather irritable. "What?" he snapped aloud and Sirius beamed at him, "Remy's gonna sing Build Me Up Buttercup" he announced grinning broadly. The man eyed Remus' leather clad outfit and raised an eyebrow before pencilling it in with a skeptical "sure".

"You're on in three acts, after that girl over there" he gestured off-handedly to a red-head who was currently watching the stage with trepadition. "Alright" he replied helplessly and the stage official strode off muttering about strange kids. "Well let's go watch your competition Remy!" James announced brightly, dragging him toward the stage curtain so they could peer out at the current performer.

The youth on stage must have been barely older then the Marauders current physical age of 18, with sandy-blonde hair that fell around his deeply skinned face and skimmed across deep grey eyes. He was cradling the microphone stand in his arms while singing his lungs out with incredible promise to his own cover of Buddy Holly's Everyday.

The entire crowd were listening in an almost hypnotic state upon listening to him. Remus to leaned against the wall, staring onstage in amazement, this guy was obviously a born performer, he seemed to take up the entire stage with his performance. Even as he finished the crowd erupted into deafening applause, watching as he ran off-stage waving as he dissapeared backstage and grinned at the group of Marauders as he passed. Adding over his shoulder, "good luck".

Remus stood watching as the next performer strode on-stage, confident and smiling and then it was the familiar-looking red-head. As she strode back off-stage with enthusiastic applause at her heels he squished his eyes shut before moving forward and stepping on-stage, recieving applause from the groupies he had attained from his last performance. "Here goes" he breathed into the microphone and there was some chuckling from the audience.

"Why do you build me up,(build me up) buttercup baby. Just to let me down, (let me down) and mess me around. And then worst of all, (worst of all) you never call baby, when you say you will (say you will) but I love you still. I need you! (I need you) more then anyone darling, you know that I have from the start, so build me up oh (build me up) buttercup don't break my heart".

His voice was loud and commanding, flitting up and down registers smoothly and without any sign of strain, not having to concentrate on playing his guitar did wonders for his singing voice as it would seem. The added deepness of his voice due to his physical age also gave the song a smoother, easier to listen to quality that left Sirius swooning into James' arms, although Remus wasn't quite sure whether he was acting this time.

"I'll be over at ten, you told me time again, but your late, I wait around and then (badaba), I head for the door, I can't take anymore, it's not you, you let me down again. (hey hey hey). Baby baby, try to find (hey hey hey) a little time and I'll make you mine (hey hey hey) I'll be home, I'll be beside the phone waiting for you. (ooohoohohh, oohohohoh)."

Remus appeared to be having fun with this performance, and it showed by the way he was grinning madly and getting into the song. Eventually picking the microphone from its stand and moving off around the stage, winking at the judges as he strode past.

"Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup baby, just to let me down (let me down) , and mess me around. I need you (I need you) - more - then anyone darling, you know that I have from the start. So build me up, oh buttercup (build me up), don't break my heart."

When it was finished he grinned and replaced the microphone before sauntering off-stage and eyeing Sirius curiously as his friend finally flattened out and tackled him head on to the amusement of the surrounding spectators. "Brilliant Remy!" he wailed aloud to their amusement as the two leather clad boys suddenly began to wrestle.

James raised an eyebrow and quickly seperated the pair, aware of the raised eyebrows that were being sent their way. 

******

Remus stared with growing nerves out at the stage. This was the final round now, the round where they would be able to sing their own songs. The round where the judges would decide just who would win. It wasn't a surprise that the blonde-haired boy they had watched sing Buddy Holly had gotten through, the red-head had been dropped surprisingly and along with about three more performers Remus felt extremely nervous.

He watched the first of the finalists stroll out, a smile on his face as he waved politely at the crowd and took a seat on the piano seat, setting up the microphone carefully before he began to play, Remus watched in silence as the melody filled the air before he began to sing.

"Now that she's back in the atmosphere, with drops of jupiter in her hair. She acts like summer and walks like rain reminds me that there's a time to change. Since her return from her stay on the moon she listens like spring and she talks like june. But tell me did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the milkyway to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overated. And tell me, did you fall from a shooting star, one without a permanent scar and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?".

The guy was very good, everybody could tell he had alot of talent. His voice wasn't as strong as some of the others but he was undoubtedly good. 

The crowd listened intently as he sung, dreamily fading away until applause rang through the air loud and congratulative. The judges smiled as he made his way off-stage, seemingly pleased that it was over with. "He was good" Peter whispered and James smacked himself in the head once, then again. "Thankyou Captain Obvious" he grunted and the smallest Marauder shot him a look.

Remus watched as the next performer moved suavely out onto the stage, her face was filled with nervous tension as she waved somewhat at the crowd before stepping up to the piano and taking a seat, once again the piano began to play a sad, soft melody before she began to speak. Her voice was sad and sultry, flitting up deep and strong.

"I keep on fallin', In l-love, with you. Sometimes I love you, Sometimes you make me blue. Sometimes I feel good and times I feel used, Lovin' you darling. Makes me so confused. I keep on fallin' in and out of love with you, I never, loved someone the way that I love you".

The crowd seemed to appreciate her nerves and were quiet, allowing her to merely get her song done. The nerves showing through several strained notes, as her song came to a close she breathed a sigh of relief and waved nervously as she strode offstage, cursing her nerves beneath her breath.

Remus watched as the blonde haired youth strode out, smiling broadly as always he grinned at Remus as he passed before taking the microphone in his hands. Nodding to the guitarist who now bore an accoustic he grinned and began to sing. 

"I could be your lover like that, just give me all the things that you want now, tell me the best thing I could do. You say you gotta lot of good reasons, I know I told a lot of good lies now, I could lose everything for you. So if your father said you gotta wake up, say that it's us, I'll be the one to tear you away from here. Cause everywhere you go, I'll come running. Everywhere you go, I will ring around. Everywhere you go, I will come to you, I won't bring you down."

The crowd obviously appreaciated his voice, the way he had taken over the stage rang strong in Remus' mind. The youth had captured everybody in the entire stadiums attention and was holding it with natural ease as he strode up and down the stage, his face alight.

"Fly alittle, take a long drive, we can be whatever we want now. Won't be the same here without you. So if we can leave a little later, stay here a while, I could take all these fears away from you. Cause everywhere you go, I'll come running. Everywhere you go, I will ring around. Everywhere you go, I will come to you, I won't bring you down." 

The crowd remained hypnotised as he strode up and down the stage matching the rythm perfectly, his voice never missing a beat.

"All the tears you've cried as the miles gone by, I'll be reaching out to hold you. There is nothing else that I won't do for you. I can take all these fears away from you. Cause everywhere you go, I'll come running. Everywhere you go, I will ring around. Everywhere you go, I will come to you, I won't bring you down. All the tears you've cried as the miles go by I'll be reaching out to hold you, there is nothing else that I won't do for you. Everywhere you go, I will come to you, I won't bring you down."

When the song came to it's end the crowd was on it's feet. Clapping madly as he grinned and waved broadly charging off-stage he grinned at Remus before cheerfully declaring "good luck". Remus' heart nearly stopped as he realised that it was his turn, right after the performance that had had the entire audience on its feet.

He shuffled out somewhat nervously, deciding to go for something with more of a rock feel to it this time. All the songs so far had been remotely cheerful, at least it would be different. At least this song would suit his 'mysterious' image.

The band nodded as he took the electric guitar, grinning somewhat at it's feel in his hands he moved toward the microphone. The band started off before he began to work the guitar, finally he raised to the microphone and began to sing.

"Are you gonna live your life wondering, standing in the back looking around. Are you gonna waste your time thinking, how you've grown up or missed out. Things are never gonna be the way you want, wheres it gonna get you acting surreal. Things are never be quite what you want, even at 25 you've gotta start sometime. I'm on my feet I'm on the floor I'm good to go. All I need is just to hear a song I know. I want to always feel like part of this was mine. I wanna fall in love tonight".

He grinned as the energetic rock stunned the crowd, at least they would remember him, right?

"Are you gonna live your life, standing in the back looking around. Are you gonna waste your time, gotta make a move or miss out. Someones gonna ask you what it's all about, stick around so it won't let you down. Someones gonna ask you what it's all about, what you gotta say for yourself?I'm on my feet I'm on the floor I'm good to go. All I need is just to hear a song I know. I want to always feel like part of this was mine. I wanna fall in love tonight."

He began to slam his head as he continued to sing his lungs out to the song, "Crimson and clover. Over and Over. Crimson and Clover, Over and Over. Crimson and Clover. Over and Over. Crimson and Clover, Over and Over. I'm on my feet I'm on the floor. I'm good to go. So come on baby sing me something that I know. I wanna always feel like part of this was mine. I wanna fall in love tonight. I wanna always feel like part of this was mine. I wanna fall in love tonight. I wanna fall in love tonight."

The song finished and the crowd stared up at him as he removed the electric guitar, grinning when they began to applaud loudly, not as loudly as they had for the previous performer, but loudly enough to satisfy the werewolf who was abruptly dragged into a giant bearhug by three excited Marauders as he left the stage.

They took no notice as the last performer took the stage. They didn't even notice one familiar looking red-head as she strode up to them eyes narrowed, even in an older body Lily Evans was as formidable as ever. It seemed as though the Marauders would definitely have someone to answer to.

*****

"B-b-but Lils!" Sirius screeched as she gripped his ear with painful effiency. "Lily!" Remus added whining as she gripped his own ear, "no buts" the redhead replied with a growl. Glaring pointedly at James and Peter as they shrank away from her stare. "Lils!" Sirius yelled again, "what if Remy wins? What then? We can't just leave!".

The redheads eyebrow quivered before she relented, releasing the pair. "As soon as the results are announced, you're leaving" she snapped crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the ground. James blinked before eyeing the redhead and announcing abruptly, "but you're doing the exact same thing! You can't accuse us of anything!". 

Lily turned slowly and James shrank away nervously shoving Peter infront of him, "my mistake" he squeaked out as she glared before nodding and turning back to the stage where the announcer was whispering with the judges before he rose up the steps and onto the stage.

"We have the results here" he announced brightly, sending a dazzling smile out at the crowd. "Our runner-up in this years talent festival is..." he paused for dramatic effect, glancing off-stage toward where the Marauders were crowded around the entrace to the stage. "REMUS LUPIN!".

Remus' eyes bulged before he flew onstage before Lily could snag him away, his eyes alight as the announcer smiled at him. The crowd erupted with applause as he looked around himself with wide-eyes. "Well done Mister Lupin" was the bright announcement from the host who now turned back to the crowd. "As the runner up prize Mister Lupin has won himself his very own brand-new Fender Guitar and Amplifier. Valued at the price of 350 galleons!".

The crowd erupted in applause as Remus suddenly went starry eyed and very nearly fell off of the stage in his dazed state. "And now. The one you've all been waiting for.. It's our number one winner... You all know who he is! The one...The only... Daniel Adams!". Remus watched the blonde performer step onto the stage to tumultous applause that near deafened him. He watched with wide-eyes as the blonde moved eagerly forwards and the announcer smiled his giant false smile.

"Well done Mister Adams! You have won yourself the grand prize of 650 galleons!". The crowd erupted as the blonde smiled widely and was greeted by a heavy cloth bag, supposedly filled with the prize money. Staggering under the weight he smiled and waved to the crowd. "Now, let's hear it one more time for our winner, Daniel Adams!".

Remus moved offstage with the host as the blonde took up the microphone, dreamily his eyes practically glowing he followed the host to go pick up his prize.

*****

A/n: Aaaahhhhhhh! Threeday weekends RULE. OMG! So So Happy. Got most of my results back, Going good so far. Only science and one part of english left! Thankyou all for your support ne ^_^;; The songs in this chapter are as follows, Build me Up Buttercup, Drops of Jupiter - Train, Fallin' - Alicia Keyes, Everywhere you go - Taxiride, and Track 02 from Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American, I cannot think of the name of the song right now @_@;; Anywho, yay! Second year should start very soon. Maybe one more holiday chapter and THEN second year. God this stories gonna be a mammoth, maybe I should make second year a second story. Hmm.. Nah. :S But it will continue! I'm not really all that sure about this chapter either! Wahahahahaha

Quote of the Day: I'm only here to chew bubblegum and Kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum - Seto Kaiba, Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! :D

Favourite song of the day: My Immortal - Evanescense. Luvin dat song *_* Soo sooo sad! 

Random Current Playlist (Songs dat Made this Chapter what it was!):

A little respect: Wheatus  
My Immortal - Evanescense  
Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse  
Nocturne - Yuuji Ueda (Amiboshis song)   
Drops of Jupiter - Train  
Fallin' - Alicia Keyes  
Champagne High - Sister Hazel  
Everywhere you go - Taxiride  
Tokimeki no Doukasen - Fushigi Yuugi Ending song  
Sometimes (It's Alright) - Colliding Traits  
Stigmatised - The Calling  
Nightmare - Yu Yu Hakusho (Kuramas song ^_^)  
A whole new world - Aladdin Sountrack  
Sail Away - David Gray  
Darkside Stories - Yu Yu Hakusho (Kurama and Hiei ^_^)  
Things don't always turn out that way - The Calling  
Boku no Uchuu ni Kimaga Isa - Fushigi Yuugi (Hotohori song! LUV THIS SONG!)  
Kaze no Uta - FY (Nuriko :( )  
Meet Virginia - Train  
Whisper - Evanescense  
If I could be like that - Three doors down  
Sayonara wa Mirai no Hajimari - YYH - KURAMA!  
Clocks - Coldplay  
Bad Day- Fuel  
Flake - Jack Johnson  
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World  
Star - Fushigi Yuugi  
Piano Man - Billy Joel  
If I am - Ninedays  
Mr Jones - Counting Crows  
Eye to Eye - Yu Yu Hakusho  
Innocent - Fuel  
Not sick but i'm not well - Lit  
Miracle - Fragma  
Shut up - Kelly Osbourne  
Ill be your crying shoulder - Edwin Mcain  
Spin - Lifehouse  
Wicked Game - Chris Issack  
Never Say Goodbye - Yu YU Hakusho  
Bring me to life - Evanescense  
Take me away - Lifehouse  
Can't help myself - Four Tops  
Kurayami ni Akai Bara (Romantic Soldier) - Yu Yu Hakusho (Kurama again ^_^)  
Breathe - Greenwheel (I love this song. Really, Really Really LOVE this song)  
Black Balloon - The Goo Goo Dolls  
Why Georgia - John Mayer  
Minority - GreenDay  
Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers  
This years love - David Gray  
Broadway - The Goo Goo Dolls

Shit that's long! Well thanks everyone for the support n reviews! Keep it up! ^_^;;   
Ja Ne,  
Cathy-Bloom.


	21. Here We Go Again

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty: Here we go again.

*****

Sirius kicked the ground angrily, nearly tripping on the legs of the leather pants he wore. As the aging potion slowly wore off he was finding it increasingly more difficult to keep his clothes on. "I can't believe it was all a con" he groaned aloud, turning his eyes on the livid werewolf who looked about ready to strangle any cheesily-smiling judges he could get his hands on. Not far away the 'grand winner' was hiffing rocks from the bag that was supposed to contain his prize money. Still hollering his powerful lungs out up at the building they had just been physically removed from.

"- YOU BETTER PAY UP!!". James winced and glanced over his shoulder at the talented blonde who was now red-in-the-face and looking positively capable of strangling the first person who looked as if they had anything to do with the deception. He too was feeling the effects of the potion wearing off and was holding the waist of his pants in an attempt to keep them up. Lily had slumped down to sit on the gutter edge, ignoring the looks that were being thrown at the group and the grand winner as they shot nasty looks toward the concealed stadium.

"I can't believe this" Remus muttered beneath his breath. "They make a bloody fortune off of us by having us perform in hopes of prizes and then chuck us out on the bloody street with nothing to show for it!". It seemed the potion was taking alot longer to wear off on the werewolf, his leather pants were barely a centimeter looser on him then they had been when he first tugged them on. 

The winner of the affair threw the last of the rocks that had been placed inside of the cloth bag he'd been presented with before spitting roughly at the door that concealed the gigantic stadium and turning away with his hands in his pockets and strolling toward the group of rather infuriated Marauders.

"What a bloody gip" he snapped as he kicked the ground eyeing the stadium moodily. "I missed an entire afternoons work for that!" he grumbled and was met with curious looks. "I work for Gringott's" he explained off-handedly, throwing the cloth bag at the ground with distaste. It was quite unnerving to see the youth, who had been so ectastic on stage suddenly so bitter and angry.

Remus sighed loudly and sunk down to sit on the gutter with Lily, "I almost had a brand new electric guitar" he murmured aloud. Sirius growled beneath his breath glaring up at the seemingly innocent door infront of him. "Bloody hell, I'm sorry Remy" he grumbled aloud and the werewolf shot him a curious look.

"Well, it's my fault isn't it? I'm the one who convinced you to enter" he added pulling a face. James shook his head, "nah it was my idea" he said with a sigh. "Should've known it'd be a con, m'dad always tells me that all those competitions are run by con-men trying to make fast-cash".

Peter, who the potion was wearing off of at an alarming rate glanced down at his watch, gripping the material of his flared jeans quickly. "I should be heading home or Tom'll think somethings happened. I'll see you all later", gripping his jeans he began to stride down the pavement, ignoring the odd looks he got for his attire.

Remus glanced at the winner with a sigh. The blonde had crossed his arms glaring at the ground, "I still don't bloody believe it" he grunted begrudgingly before glancing around at the remaining Marauders and then at Lily. "Hold on a second, weren't you all...taller before?". James began to laugh nervously as his shirt seemed to reach down to an absurd length of his legs, appearing more like a dress then a shirt.

"Er.. well you see" Sirius began chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his head. "We're second years" Remus mumbled gloomily at the gutter while Lily muttered to herself about having no part in the entire thing. "S-second years? As in second years at SCHOOL?" the blonde choked out incredulously staring at them.

"Yup" Sirius replied nervously fluffing his hair as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. His foreboding height had diminished quite noticably and he was having a hard time not being swamped in the trenchcoat that was now dwarfing his figure substantially. 

Quite out of the blue the blonde began to laugh loudly, clutching his stomach. "G-g-good thing I didn't invite you out for a drink then" he sniggered to himself and earned himself four very confused glances from the Marauders. "What's so funny" Sirius muttered dryly eyeing the over-all winner.

"Well. At least one of us got one over on those bloody con-men" the youth sniggered out as he began to stride back down the street, considerably more cheerful as he cast them a wave of goodbye. Unable to take a stop in his laughter to say a proper goodbye. Remus muttered indiscretely beneath his breath, "at least one of us found it funny".

******

Sirius Black stretched luxuriously in his bed, slowly opening his eyes as another screech came echoing up the stairs, directed at him. Snickering to himself he slowly sat up, listening as the sound of an angry Morag stomped their way upstairs. "Sirius Black you better get out of bed right now! I don't have all day to take you shopping for your school supplies! We're meeting you're friends remember!".

"Right Aunt Penny" the boy retorted as he slipped out of his bed and picked yesterdays pair of flared jeans from the ground. Shedding his pyjama bottoms (incidently covered in monkeys which were having a ball climbing around the bright blue material), he pulled his jeans on before searching through his drawers for a t-shirt.

Upon finding one to his satisfaction, he tossed away his pyjama shirt and dragged it on over his head. Quite satisfied Sirius dragged a pair of trainers from beneath his bed and slipped his feet into them before turning toward the mirror. Ever since Sirius' experience with his older self the boy had decided he quite liked his hair at a long length and had decided on impulse that he would very much like to have it so.

So to his mothers protests and his fathers curiosity he had refused to have his ritual haircut that came every summer. Now his hair had found it's way quite nicely to rest just below his shoulders and would stay that way unless his mother decided she had had enough and attacked him in his sleep.

There was another yell of, "SIRIUS!" before he grinned and casually pulled the door open, comb in hand. His Aunt Penny, another year older stood, her hands on her hips glaring at him. "We'll be late" she snapped accusingly and he shrugged, "it's no good being early Auntie" he admonished with a charming crooked smile that seemed to infuriate the woman further.

"Sirius you bloody comb your hair and meet me downstairs in five minutes or I'm leaving without you" she snapped and turned on her heel. "Five minutes then Auntie?" he called back cheerfully at her retreating form and succeeded in recieving a look that would have chilled anybody who did not have experience with a Morag to the very core.

"Right then" he answered himself before turning to the mirror and proceeding to comb his successfully growing hair with an inkling of pride. At exactly 4 minutes and 59 seconds Sirius dropped cheerfully to the floor beside his already moody aunty, who was casting dark looks at his father who was sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet and drinking a cup of what appeared to be melted chocolate and water. 

Sirius grinned broadly, "mornin' dad" he called out and his father grinned back. "Mornin' Siri" he replied before offering what appeared to be more of the strange chocolate concoction to Sirius in a coffee-to-go mug. "Cheers" Sirius announced brightly taking it from him before taking a sip. "Careful it's hot" his father added absently without glancing up from his paper as Sirius began to paw at his tongue huffing and puffing while his Aunt laughed cynically.

"Thanks for the warning" Sirius retorted as his Aunt grabbed him by the shoulder and began to steer him out the door toward the designated apparition point. "No time for the floo now Sirius, we'll just have to risk you getting splinched now won't we?". When the boy began to turn a sickly green the older woman smiled somewhat to cheerfully before apparating away, taking the nauseous boy with her.

*****

James Potter stretched high onto the very tips of his toes. Eagerly whipping his head around in search of one of his friends, the friends he was supposed to be meeting at this precise moment. He abruptly beamed as he caught sight of a scruffy-head of tawny hair heading in their direction. The young werewolf was looking particuarly hasseled and was shooting looks at the people who jostled him as he walked. He perked up however as James began to wave his hand frantically from the bottom of the stairs that led into Gringotts.

"REMY!" he roared out as the were-wolf broke into a grin and hastened, darting around the last of the midday shoppers and jogged the rest of the way to his friend, grinning rather roguishly as they embraced in a 'manly-hug'. James ignored the amused look that his father sent him before Marcus Potter turned his eyes onto the youth he had met at the begginning of the holidays at the train station.

"Hello again Remus" he greeted with a polite smile and had it returned by the were-wolf, "hello Mister Potter" he replied in a considerably better temper then he had appeared to be in before. "Didn't your father come with you?" Marcus questioned rather curiously and Remus' smile became rather strained, "him and mother had a business trip" he explained and the man nodded. "Fair enough" he replied before glancing up in time to see a smug-looking Penelope Morag tugging a very-green looking Sirius towards them.

"Penny!" he called out waving an arm, thus causing James to bury his shoulder in the pretenses of embarassment on Remus' shoulder. Remus however took a good chance to snigger at the green Sirius who looked more then a little nauseous, James quickly dropping his facade joined in whole-heartedly as Sirius approached, still being tugged along by his Aunt.

"'Lo Aunt Penny" James declared between sniggering at Sirius who was shooting a glare at Remus and himself. "Hello James" the woman replied brandishing Sirius at them as though he were a live grenade. "Hello Marcus" she added as Sirius began to regain some of the colour in his cheeks. She then turned toward Remus with a smile, "and you must be the other boy. Remus?" she inquired and he attempted a smile, he had heard about the womans temper from Sirius. "Remus Lupin" he replied weakly.

James took full oppurtunity to smack Remus on the back causing the were-wolf to glare at him. "Sorry Remy, sounded like you had a tickle in your throat" he supplied innocently. "Well Siri? Aren't you going to say hello?" James continued eyeing the previously green boy with a mock pretense of being hurt.

"Hello Remy" the boy replied pointedly, decidedly smirking at the glaring bespectacled boy. Marcus began to chuckle beneath his breath before turning towards Penelope to begin his conversation, "so what happened to Oliver the lazy old sod...?". "Where's Pete?" Sirius spoke up abruptly, scanning the crowds curiously in hopes of spotting the boy. "Haven't the foggiest.." James mused adjusting his glasses and following Sirius' gaze.

Remus shrugged, "you did remember to tell him to meet us at Gringotts didn't you?" he inquired, rather suspiciously. "Er.." James trailed off sheepishly turning pink. "I could have possibly... delayed passing on the message?" he tried weakly, quailing under the incredulous roll of eyes from Remus. "Shot Potter" he grumbled and Sirius snickered to himself eyeing the werewolf. "Shot? Where'd you pick that up from Remy?". 

The werewolf glared defensively, "I'll have you know that I didn't pick it up from anywhere, it's purely original". Sirius snickered to himself again, "well... shall we go pick up Pete then. Since Jamie coveniently forgot to pass on the message?". He was met with a sheepish nod from the younger Potter who turned to his father to relay the message. "Dad? We're going to go find Pete and then we'll get our school supplies".

"Alright James. I'll just be at Flourish and Blott's, I've got some issues I need to deal with there. Just come and find me when you're ready to go home". James nodded back cheerfully. "You've got your stationary list then?" he inquired and James produced it from his pocket as proof. "Alright, I'll see you later then James".

The younger Potter nodded before turning back to his friends, watching Sirius casually weedle the money pouch from his Father away from his Auntie before saying a cheerful goodbye and turning back to them. "Let's go find Pete then shall we?" Sirius announced and the other two nodded.

They turned and began to saunter down the path, in the direction of the brick barrier that faced into the back of the Leaky Cauldron. Where it was most likely they would find Peter, in high spirits the three almost second-years strolled away down the alleyway, feeling distinctly untouchable as the crowds parted to let the three boys stride through.

Sirius abruptly began to snicker out of nowhere, causing both Remus and James to look at him curiously. "What is it you twat?" James spoke up rather cautiously, when Sirius began to laugh out of the blue it most likely spelt trouble. "Your dad has issues" he sniggered and was met by two very incredulous looks that seemed to ooze 'idiot'.

"Are you quite alright Siri? Should we call the men in white coats so they can cart you off to the loony bin?" James drawled eyeing his friend with what could surely be called pity. Remus rolled his eyes, "no need. He's already driven every single one of us to the brink of insanity anyway. They may as well replace the wood with padded walls at Hogwarts and stick up a sign".

James sniggered to himself at the contemptuous look Sirius was giving them and added, somewhat sarcastically, "shot Remy". The werewolf twitched and glared at the improper use of 'his' phrase. "Jamie.. Never use the phrase" he announced in a care-free, yet very clear voice. "Shot Jamie" Sirius sniggered aloud and was met with a resounding whack as the werewolf smacked him over the head.

"Shot Remy" James added, unable to hold back the chuckling that ensued as the werewolfs eyebrow twitched. They stopped infront of the barrier as it abruptly slid open and a cornfloured tiny youth stumbled through. Namely the last of the Marauders, Peter Pettigrew. 

Sirius and James exchanged looks before grinning and declaring, "Shot Pete!".

*****

"So ...We've got dungbombs, Filibusters fire-works, exploding quills, fire-fans....and some fake candy. Shouldn't we get our school supplies now?" Peter announced glancing between the three of his taller, stronger friends. The trio seemed to have passed the strange stage they had been in when Peter had first arrived, the boy still didn't understand 'why' Remus had suddenly proceded to beat the living daylights of his two friends, just for saying 'shot Pete'.

"I suppose. Now we've got all of the important stuff I guess we could get some books. If we have enough time maybe even top up our Potions ingredients" James declared loftily. At this all four of the Marauders began to snicker in a disturbing manner, "shot Jamie" Sirius announced and Remus twitched. "Guys. What'd I say about saying the phra - ". He was abruptly cut off when James groaned and waved his hands, unconsciously rubbing at his cheek. "Yeah yeah Remy, we know. Don't use the phrase".

Peter blinked, still completely clueless as to what the pair spoke of before shaking his head as though to cast the thought away. "I don't even want to know" he declared aloud and the trio eyed him blankly, obviously having begun another conversation in Peters absence of mind. When the smallest of the group turned bright pink Sirius snickered good-humouredly, "sometimes I can only fathom what goes on inside that pea-sized brain of yours Petey..".

The previously snickering Black let out a stream of curses as Peter quite 'accidently' jammed his heel right down onto Sirius' foot as he strode past, his nose in the air. Remus snickered appreaciatively and added a, "Shot Pete" before following the smallest Marauder amusement written all over his face.

James chuckled to himself and followed suit, leaving Sirius to hobble after them cursing like a sailor. "So Pete. What's this I heard about your old man selling the Leaky Cauldron?" James spoke up causing Remus to eye the Potter curiously. Sirius having hobbled quicker to catch up to the group added sideways to the werewolf, "the Potters are regular socialites don't you know. Ever want to know that latest Wizarding news just ask old Marcus dearest".

James cast him a sour look for the term of endearment referring to his father and was met by a broad, almost blindingly white smile from his friend. Shocked James' eyes widened, "you didn't Siri!" he called out in blind outrage. Sirius grinned back widely, catching Peter with the reflection of the sun from his teeth and almost blinding the poor boy. "I did" he replied. Remus, who had placed his hand up to sheild himself from the brightness of the smile rolled his eyes.

"Do not tell me you brought those Broadway Tooth Mints" he moaned aloud and Sirius beamed back (blinding several innocent passers-by in the process). "I did" was the cool reply as the boy seemed almost maniacally pleased with his new advantage over his friends. Peter winced abruptly, "..for teeth brighter then stage lights, use Broadway Mints for your pearly whites" he quoted and recieved a threatening glare from James.

"If I hear that bloody ad on WWN one more time I swear I'm going to hunt it's creators down and hex them so badly their body parts won't be recognisable.." the boy growled, brown eyes flashing with determination behind his glasses. Remus stared in mild disgust at his friend before raising an eyebrow, "shot Jamie" he mused aloud, dropping his hand guard and nearly falling over from the blinding flash of white light that obscured his eyes.

*****

Oliver Black heaved the heavy trunk with a grunt through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. Glaring half-heartedly as his son practically 'skipped' onto the hidden Platform behind him. Amused at least he dropped the trunk and sank down to sit on it and pant heavily before eyeing his son with mild confusion, "what on earth is in this thing!" he groaned rubbing at his head ruefully.

Sirius suddenly became rather evasive, whistling innocently and glancing anywhere but at his father. "Oh nothing really" he mused dismissively, rolling his eyes Oliver Black stood again. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know" was the response. Grinning at his father with still astoundingly white teeth Oliver shook his head with a grunt, "I don't know what possessed your mother to actually buy you those damned mints. Half-blind for the entire day" he muttered to himself.

Sirius beamed up at his father cheerfully. His father had taken the day off of work especially to take him to the station, something that Sirius was immensely grateful for. He knew how busy his father was with work at the moment, especially with that unsolved murder case turning into what appeared to be a serial killer on the loose.

"Well Siri, it's almost time for you to leave" his father mused, casting his eyes around the station and catching upon a vaguely familiar head of tawny hair and a somewhat similar, much taller youth who looked distinctly like the smaller one. "REMY!" Sirius yelled out jumping up and down and waving his arms like mad to attract his friends attention.

The tawny haired boys cheeks coloured yet his eyes lit up as he caught sight of his friend who was now hollering at the top of his lungs. Most likely permanently scarring several first years as they hurried past him wide-eyed and shaken. Remus lifted his head to glance up at the grinning face of his older brother, Romulus Lupin grinned back, tousling his brothers hair furiously causing the boy to swat at him.

Romulus was tall and slim with dark mahogany hair that was cut short, his eyes were a rich chocolate brown, the same wide shape as Remus'. Walking side-by-side it was easy to see they were brothers, they walked the same, they laughed the same (as was displayed by the older suddenly erupting into a chuckle upon seeing his brother tousel-haired and distinctly grumpy) and even appeared to smile the same. Both were also clothed in casual muggle wear, flared jeans and t-shirts. 

Apparently Remus had changed before he had to get onto the train. Sirius beamed broadly as the brothers walked up to them, Romulus looking distinctly good-spirited as his little brother introduced him to Sirius and Oliver Black. Oliver shook hands with the older Lupin brother politely while Sirius began to chatter away cheerfully about just how cool it would be to be seconds years. To put it in Sirius' exact words, "We're not the bottom of the food-chain anymore Remy my lad!".

Remus grinned broadly at his friend as James suddenly appeared behind them, dragging behind him a half-asleep looking Marcus Potter. When Peter finally appeared, armed with a tired looking young woman who was introduced as Susan Pettigrew the four Marauders exchanged glances.

"The Marauders have hit Second Year. Hogwarts won't even know what's hit it!".


	22. A Marauder Musical

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty One: A Marauder Musical

*****

"The Marauders have hit Second Year. Hogwarts won't even know what's hit it!".

*****

Sirius moaned loudly, rubbing his filled to bursting stomach in a show of his discomfort. The train compartment was strewn with Chocolate Frog wrappings, pieces of Cauldron Cake and discarded Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans. Four very full Marauders sat amongst the litter, moaning to each other. None however could hold a candle to the mammoth effort Sirius had put forward in consuming at least a Cauldrons weight in Chocolate Frogs.

"Siri.. I throw down my hat to you" Remus managed to grunt out, a large chocolate smear covering his mouth as he turned a sickly shade of green. "How could you eat so much?" James added eyeing his friend with mistrust, "it simply isn't human!". Peter nodded his head in agreement, "definitely not human" he groaned out. The usually picky eater had eaten his own fair-share of the giant mound of food they had bought.

"I seriously think I can't move" Sirius whimpered pitifully aloud, Remus eyed him warily. "Should've called off the eating contest then Siri, now we're all feeling like blimps", Remus was uncharateristically scathing in this remark and he went back to wallowing in his own self-pity as his stomach gurgled unpleasantly.

"Oh not funny Remy" was the groaned reply from the dark-haired boy as he refused to budge from his half-lying position on the compartment seat. James pulled a face as he grunted and shifted to his feet, "I don't know about you guys but I think I'm going to try and walk it off."

Remus slowly rolled to his own feet in his silent agreement, Sirius moaned and carefully pushed himself to his feet "sounds like a plan Jamie" he announced somewhat woozily as Remus wrenched Peter to his feet. "May as well start off the year with a bang right? We wouldn't want any first years getting ideas about who are the Pranksters here..." James added suddenly all business as he plucked a thin black book from inside his t-shirt.

Holding it up with a broad smile Sirius seemed to shed a great deal of his self-pity. "Yes! It's Pranking time!" he announced gleefully, rubbing his hands together as his eyes began to shine. Peter glanced nervously toward Remus who sighed aloud and shrugged, "think up any new ones over the summer?" he asked casually of the Potter whos smile broadened even more so.

"Actually, I thought up the perfect one for the train. See, all we need to do is find out where the lunch lady keeps her trolley". Sirius quirked an eyebrow as the idea caught his attention. "Well, she rides up front with the driver I guess. So we'll just get someone to distract her while the rest of us take the trolley. No sweat" Sirius announced brightly before plucking the bible from James' fingers and peering at the newest entry. His eyes brightened before he began to chuckle eyeing the bespectacled boy with a brilliantly white toothy smile. "You are a genius Jimmy my boy".

Remus took possession of the bible and quickly skimmed over the uneven scrawl that was James Potter's handwriting. "James... What on earth were you on?" he muttered flipping the book back at the boy who blinked. "Oh come on Remy! It'll by fun!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly earning a confused and somewhat peevish frown from Peter who promptly snatched the Bible from James' hands and glanced over it.

"It's... Barbaric" he announced pulling a face and tossing the book back at James with a wrinkle of his nose. Sirius blinked, "how can you not understand pure genius when you see it? See Remy just has to hide in the little bottom part of the trolley, and when the Slytherins find it he starts throwing hexes! Then we come in with the dung bombs and firecrackers and boom! Remy bolts for it and we all get the hell out of there!".

Remus pulled a face at his friends. "Why me?" he inquired cooly, "'cause you're the bravest, smartest, ever-so-loveliest..." Sirius cooed batting his eyelashes and recieving a smack over the head. James calmly interjected, "'cause you know the most interesting hexes of course" he announced calmly while Sirius glared at him. "Sometimes I really wonder how god can hate me so very very much" Remus sighed aloud before trudging off down the hallway, his excited friends jumping excitedly after him.

*****

"Firs' years over 'ere!". 

Sirius beamed widely turning toward the voice and jumping enthusiastically up and down in an attempt to gain the mammoth gamekeepers attention. "Oi! Hagrid! Over here!". The beaming face they recieved was promptly followed by a giant hand waving in their direction, "alright there Sirius?" he called back before resuming his duties of calling the first years.

Wordlessly the four Marauders followed the throngs of other students toward a long line of carriages which were apparently horseless. Excitedly clambering inside the four second years began to chatter giddily to each other, plots of pranking, mischief making and a great deal of excited dreaming echoing throughout the carriage as it bumped and cluttered its way up the road towards Hogwarts Castle.

When the carriage ground to its ultimate halt the four excited Marauders hurriedly exited the carriage, sending a glance toward the lake where the first of the fleet of boats were just starting to come into view. Grinning the Marauders as one bustled up the steps and amidst the throngs of other students made their way back into the great hall.

The Great Hall was every bit as spectacular as it had been for their own Welcoming Feast last year, hundreds of lit candles suspended in the air over the four tables. Tapestries depicting each of the four houses lined the walls closest to their house table and the giant Hogwarts crest hanging behind the staff table.

The Marauders made their way casually towards the Gryffindor table, eyes filled with wonder as they drank in the spectacular sights that surrounded them. None of them had been calm enough to take much of a good look around themselves last year and now they were most definitely regretting it. The ceiling above depicted the clear star-filled night above and a sliver of the silver moon could be seen far to the east.

As the four claimed their favourite seats, right in the very center of Gryffindor table they took the time to peer around themselves. Lily Evans sat down nearer the end talking cheerfully with Jamie Baker and dutifully ignoring the rest of the second year Gryffindor girls who sat as far away as possible from the pair.

All around them older students sunk into place, new Prefects looking distinctly big-headed puffing out their chests so the silver 'P' badges pinned there could be easily distinguished. The new Head Girl sat merely seats away from the group of Marauders, her dark hair braided back away from her face and looking very important.

Sirius grinned toward James and nudged his friend pointedly. "Fresh meat" he hissed pointing out the new prefects and the headgirl. James chuckled to himself, "only you would think of going for the top dogs first Siri" he declared as though this were a stroke of genius on the Black boys part. "Of course he would" Remus muttered distractedly, "his heads even bigger then theirs are". 

James whistled to himself eyeing the werewolf with a raised eyebrow, "ouch Remy. That was a low-blow." The werewolf however seemed quite distracted, he was shrinking down in his seat as though hiding from someone as a large group passed the Gryffindor table. Sirius paused in his own slightly sulky mood to stare at the back of the werewolfs head in surprise. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" he choked out staring at the boy as though he were deranged.

The Werewolf abruptly straightened in his seat eyes flashing indignantly, "what did it look like I was doing?" he replied testily still shooting nervous glances out of the corner of his eyes. "It looked to me like you were hiding" James spoke up cooly, glancing between Sirius to Peter questioningly before his eyes rested on Remus.

"Of course I was hiding" Remus replied cooly, running his hands through his fringe before glancing nervously over his shoulder. "Who were you hiding from?" Peter piped up quietly, nearly standing up in order to see the person that Remus could possibly have been hiding from. "Rosier" was the quiet hiss as though the name were poisonous, almost immediately Remus whipped his head around as though the boy was lurking around in the shadows nearby.

"Rosier? I thought we'd sorted that mess out last year" James spoke up, ignoring the somewhat sulky looks that Sirius was giving to his unused plate all the while avoiding looking at Remus. "Well I thought so too. But apparently he didn't think so" Remus replied sounding a great deal more upset as though he had been bottling all of this up for quite a while.

"He owled me in the holidays" Remus spat out still glancing nervously over his shoulders. "He did what?" Sirius suddenly snarled aloud eyes narrowing sharply and casting his gaze around furiously, obviously in search of the Slytherin. "He owled me" Remus replied coldly glaring in the direction of the Slytherin table. "When I didn't reply he owled me again and again..and again" Remus pulled a distasteful face.

"Romulus started wondering why the same owl kept on coming back to our house almost every day, sometimes twice" Remus cast a frown in the direction of the Slytherin house. "Bloody hell" James muttered beneath his breath, adjusting his glasses and glancing somewhat disgustedly in the direction of Slytherin table. A sudden eruption of clapping cut their conversation causing the four to glance up, the sorting had already begun. By the looks of it the hat had just finished its song.

They watched in silence as the first years were slowly yet steadily sent into each of the houses. Sirius disgruntedly casting aside his own sour mood to holler at the top of his lungs whenever Gryffindor recieved a new student. James followed suit and soon enough Remus had been convinced to join in and Peter naturally followed along with the others.

When a particuarly tiny boy was announced as a Gryffindor Sirius took the oppurtunity to haul James and Remus ontop of their chairs and began a can-can line. Peter ducked his head under the table his cheeks flaming as Sirius without shame held James and Remus pinned to his sides and recieved a great deal of attention from First years and the rest of the students alike.

"YEAH!" he roared at the tiny boy who looked as though he were about to wet himself and hastened to take a seat as far away from Sirius as possible. "Mister Black SIT DOWN!" Professor McGonagall roared in his direction and Sirius pointedly tipped his head, "certainly Minerva" he replied as he gracefully returned to his seat recieving a pointed glower from the head of Gryffindor house.

"Your in it now Siri" James whispered with a conspiritve grin as he glanced up along the table before pausing with a blink upon a tiny figure seated up at the table. "Hold on! What happened to Old Flitwick?" he asked blinking at the vaguely familiar looking young wizard, who while being as tiny as their aging old Charms Professor, was much younger and was grinning broadly while eyeing Professor Mcgonagall as she glared pointedly in Sirius' direction.

"What d'you mean?" Peter replied having drawn his head out from under the table and peering across the staff table before finding the strange little wizard in his place. "Hold on.. he looks familiar" the smallest Marauder announced wrinkling his forehead as he wracked his brains in search of where he could have seen the man before.

A giant eruption of applause erupted around them as the last first year was sorted and Mcgonagall returned to the staff table rolling up the parchment in her hands. Dumbledore rose in his seat and silence resumed, "welcome. Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts, to the first years I hope you enjoy your first year. I would like to thank Misters Black, Potter and Lupin for their usual entertainment..." Sirius waved a hand broadly with a dismissive cry of, "no problem Albus!".

".. And also welcome amongst us a new member of the faculty. Sadly Professor Flitwick came to ..abit of an accident during the summer involving a fig tree, a tunnel and some Nifflers.. But I am delighted to annouce that his son, Filius Flitwick has agreed to fill the position!". At this James let out a roar of sudden recognition, "aha! He's that dueling champion!" he announced broadly pointing at the teacher who turned slightly pink and nearly toppled off the cushions he'd settled down upon.

Sirius snickered as James too turned bright pink and clapped him on the back warmly, "shot James!" he announced loudly to a murderous glare from Remus. "Yes Mister Potter, he is indeed 'that dueling champion' as you so graciously put it. Now, I'm sure you all are quite hungry from your trip, so let's get on with it shall we?" Dumbledore cut in and without another word platters filled with food suddenly spread over each of the tables, the first years staring wide-eyed at the spreads before everybody dug into their food.

Remus sighed and glanced between his friends as he dug into his food, recieving inquisitive glances from his fellow Marauders as they too stuffed their faces. "Well Remy, what did that greaseball say in his letters?" James annouced thickly during bites causing the werewolf to wrinkle his nose. "Don't know, after the first one I just threw them straight into the fire" he replied cooly and Sirius wrinkled his nose in a fashion similar to Remus', "don't blame you Remy".

Peter merely nodded his head in his own agreement. "Hopefully he's realised I don't want anything to do with him" Remus added glumly and was met with a shrug of shoulders from Sirius and slight inclination of the head from James, "yeah. For his sake he better've" James added sharply as though backing himself up.

******

"I'm siiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggiiiinnnnnnnngggg in the rain. Just sinnnnnnnnnggggggggiiiiiiinnnggggg in the rain! What a glorious feeling I'm - Ouch! - Hey what the heck was that for Remy!".

Sirius Black yelped at the slippery bar of soap as it clonked him heavily on the head before skittering to the floor and making it's slippery escape beneath the shower stalls towards another. "That was for being a prat Siri! Your not singing in the rain, your singing in the bloody shower and I'm not sure that Locke and Joe appreciate it". Two cries of agreement echoed out from the adjoining Second Year Boys dormitory and Sirius pulled a face at the wall between their stalls.

Without skipping a beat he smirked and suddenly burst out in an almost perfect impression of the blonde from the competition, "I could be your lover like that, just give me all the things that you want now, tell me the best thing I could do. You say you gotta lot of good reasons, I know I told a lot of good lies now, I could lose everything for you. So if your father said you gotta wake up, say that it's us, I'll be the one to tear you away from here. Cause everywhere you go, I'll come running. Everywhere you go, I will ring around. Everywhere you go, I will come to you, I won't bring you down."

Remus yelped out and Sirius winced at the loud thud that followed. "Oi, Remy, you okay mate?". There was a brief mumbled, "just peachy thankyou" as the werewolf obviously regained his feet. "You shouldn't do that Siri, you scared me half to death" he called out over the sound of the running water.

"Shoulda let me stick to singing in the rain aye Remy?" he announced triumphantly and heard a mutter from the werewolf. "Yeah, that's what I thought" Sirius replied conversationally as he grinned at the cubicle wall before reaching for a bottle of shampoo.

******

Remus glared half-heartedly at Sirius as he leaned lazily against his bed-post, waiting for his friend to finish drying and brushing his hair so they could go down to the great hall. "Sometimes I think Jamie 'n Pete have go it right. Short hairs not as much hassle" Remus muttered pulling at his own hair which was tied back in one simple ponytail as he eyed Sirius' progress. "Almost ready Remy, have to look smashing for my first day as a second year don't I?" was the reply and Remus merely shook his head with an audible sigh.

"So what's our plan for today Remy?" he announced brightly as he carefully began to pull a comb through his shoulder-length hair all the while eyeing his friend. "Plan?" was the bemused reply as the boy glanced sideways at Sirius, "yeah. What are we gonna Prank Jamie 'n Pete with this morning? I mean, we can't let our first day pranking tradition slide can we?".

Remus raised an eyebrow in perplexity, "Siri. It isn't a tradition, we just happened to prank them first day last year.." Sirius waved his hand with a snort, "and we're doing it again this year which makes it a tradition!". "Alright already Siri, any ideas for this prank then?". Sirius hummed thoughtfully as he tugged a knot out of his hair before grinning broadly, "yeah. I do have an idea actually, sort of... A development from last years prank".

His grin became somewhat sadistic as he pulled his hairback and bound it loosely around the nape of his neck with a scrap of black silk. "Remember how we had them sing last year, just one entire song and it was all over?". Remus nodded slowly and thoughtfully, "well Remy, I decided that I might just have a look through this book my cousin Andromeda brought for me and found a very interesting spell. You see, it turns the persons life into a musical for twenty four hours". Sirius appeared rather pleased with his idea and Remus grinned slowly.

"You mean.. They'd just randomly burst into song all over the place..?" he spoke up smirking slightly and Sirius nodded back. "Well then Siri, wheres this spell of yours?".

******

Remus smiled discretely at Sirius as the pair sat down casually on either side of James and Peter, "mornin' Marauders" Sirius announced nochalantly reaching for a piece of toast. Remus smiled vaguely as he watched Sirius discretely wave his wand in the direction of James' and Peter's plates. He winked at Remus pointedly and took a bite from his piece of toast, Remus lazily followed suit and exchanged lazy conversation with his friends as they awaited the arrival of timetables.

When a Prefect swept down the table handing out timetables she was pleasantly surprised when James opened his mouth to say thankyou and instead, broke into a bout of song. "On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round, And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found, The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone, She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone".

James abruptly clapped his hands over his mouth, eyes bulging with surprise and glancing suspiciously around. Peter raised an eyebrow while Sirius hid his face behind his piece of toast, Remus looked airily around as though he hadn't heard a thing. The prefect eyed James strangely before passing him a timetable and turning to Peter who opened his mouth to thank her but instead, unsurprisingly began to sing as well. 

"Her hair is Harlow gold, her lips sweet surprise, Her hands are never cold, she's got Better Davis eyes, She'll turn the music on you, you won't have to think twice, She's pure as New York snow, she got Bette Davis eyes." Peter slapped his hands over his hands in horror as Sirius unable to contain himself roared with laughter and Remus soon followed suit, both rolling around on the floor as the afflicted Marauders turned flabbergasted to scowl at them.

"Who would've guessed Pete? I guess you like that song more then you let on" Sirius choked out between snickers as Remus laughed along, Peter glared at them opening his mouth to reply before thinking the better of it and clamping it shut again. James and Peter glared offendingly at them as though to say, 'WHY?'.

"Well come on! It's a tradition" Sirius announced grinning and slinging an arm around Remus' shoulders as he stood. James glowered, thoughts obviously having turned to the previous years torture. Remus grinned slightly, "you can talk you know. The spell only works if someone says something to provoke it, for example ... Stop".

Almost immediately before Peter could control himself he had broke out with, "Stop! In the name of love, before you break my heart.." he hurriedly clamped his hands back over his mouth to muffle the song that threatened to spill out. James let out a glare, "I'm going to kill the both of you, just so you know". 

Sirius grinned, "are you sure about that Jamesie?" he inquired sweetly with an evil gleam in his eyes. "If you are planning to then I suggest you give us evidence, because then we can make the next twenty four hours the most music filled you've ever seen" he announced brightly and Remus nodded his head grinning. "Yup, and oh how time can fly". 

James cursed roughly before words tumbled from his mouth. "Fly me to the moon, and let me play among those stars.." his mouth clamped firmly shut James sent an angry glare at Remus who smiled broadly, obviously in a much better mood then he had been last night. 

"What's this about flying?" came a curious voice and Remus and Sirius turned their heads toward the voice. A first year with curiosity written all over his face was watching them intently, "are you the guys who were doing the can-can last night?" he continued peering at them intently. Sirius nodded his head while raising an eyebrow, "the names Sirius Black, this here is Remus Lupin. And the currently unable to speak are James Potter and Peter Pettigrew".

The first year blinked at them curiously, "why?" he added. Sirius grinned maniacally, "glad you asked me that, you see young first year, this is a prime example of Marauder handiwork" he waved toward them. "Myself and Remy" he gestured toward the werewolf, "found a need to carry on the tradition by hexing our good friends Jamsie and Pete, with an Oratorio Hex".

Seeming rather pleased with himself, Sirius beamed down at the first year, a short boy with curly blonde hair and curious hazel eyes. "Wow. What's an Orario Hex?" he asked blinking and Sirius frowned slightly, "an Oratorio hex makes a person act as though they are in a living musical for twenty four hours". The tiny boy blinked back, "wow! I'm Darryl Higgs" he announced excitably as he stared up at Sirius and Remus with new-found admiration.

"Sirius Black! You are not corrupting first years on their first day!" Came a snarl from behind the pair of Marauders and both jumped as the new headgirl glared daggers at the pair, she had spent a great deal of last year taking points from the four for rule-breaking as a prefect. "We were not corrupting first years! We were explaining our genius to young Darryl here" Sirius retorted and the Head Girl glared back. "A likely story I'm sure" she sneered.

Remus broke in flawlessly with a bright cheery smile, "good morning Suzanna, lovely morning we're having isn't it?". The head girl turned her head upon him sharply, "don't you even try Remus Lupin, I know exactly what you're trying to do and you will not butter me up like you've been doing with the other Prefects!"

Remus cursed under his breath and James snickered announcing, "oooh score for the head girl". "And you keep your mouth shut James Potter! You're just as bad!". Sirius snickered to himself as James assumed a look of indignation but kept his mouth firmly shut for fear that some sort of lyrics would come sprouting from his mouth and he knew very well they wouldn't be pleasant ones.

"Me, butter people up Suzanna. Honestly, I thought we had an understanding" Remus tried again fruitlessly as the girl turned a cold glare on him. "Alright alright! We won't corrupt first years" Sirius sighed aloud while pulling a face at the girl. "You just take all the fun out of life, you do know that don't you Suzanna?". The girl smiled triumphantly and tossed her head sending her braid swinging down her back, with that she turned and walked away.

"Well, what's the quickest and most efficient way of letting the whole of first year know who are the Kings?" Sirius spoke up as soon as she had gone. Oblivious to the blinking Darryl who still stood wide-eyed with curiosity nearby, Remus tapped his chin glancing at the pair of hexed Marauders and grinned. "You know what Siri, perhaps we should put Jamsie and Pete out of their misery".

Sirius nodded his head and lazily retrieved his wand, strangely enough however he directed it's point at himself and then at Remus rather then James and Peter. With a smirk Sirius turned towards the other two Marauders and casually announced, "Marauder Musical anyone?".


	23. Musical Forks

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Two: Musical Forks.

******

"Marauder Musical anyone?".

******

The entire Gryffindor second year Transfiguration class was in uproar, for some unknown reason the group of four boys fondly known as the 'Marauders' seemed to find it necessary to accentuate every comment they made by breaking into song. Which in itself was quite amusing as Professor Mcgonagall was flabbergasted by the fact that they could find a song which escalated from every word she ended a sentence with.

As it was, it seemed that the four boys had only just started, and by all appearances on Peter Pettigrews part this sudden affliction was not volunteery. "Would you please restrain yourself Mister Black!" Professor Mcgonagall finally roared aloud and was met by a pathetic reply of, "I can't help myself".

Several glances exchanged as Sirius burst into song with his ever faithful Marauders crooning the harmonies in the background. "Sugar Pie Honeybunch, you know that I love you! I can't help myself (Can't help myself), I love you and nobody else". With an outraged yell of frustration Minerva Mcgonagall waved her wand in the fours direction yelling, "silencio!".

Immediately silence drowned the room and she sighed sinking into her desk chair and watching as the remainder of the class stared in awe between the four silenced Marauders and Mcgonagall the foreboding who was now muttering absently to herself. "Please don't tell me you cast an Oratorio spell on yourselves" she murmured eyeing the four. Sirius nodded his head beaming broadly while Remus gave a shrug of his shoulders.

With another wave of her hand she cast the counter spell and groaned to herself inwardly. A sudden knocking on the door seemed to be salvation as she rose to her feet. Instead Remus burst out with a sudden unexpected chorus of, "Oh my darlin, knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe if the answer is no, oh my sweetness" at this point the three other Marauders knocked on their desks appropriately to the amusement of the rest of the class, "means you'll meet me in the hallway, twice on the pipe means you ain't gonna show".

They watched as an exciteable first year bounced in, the same one that Sirius recognised from that morning as Darryl Higgs. He stared in awe at the four Marauders with giant hazel eyes and let out a gasp of awe, as though they were to be idolised for disrupting a classroom. 

"What is it?" Mcgonagall spoke up sharply drawing the first year from his reverie, "er.. Professor Flitwick told me to give you this" he announced brightly extending a bright pink piece of paper in his hand. "Thankyou Higgs, you may return to your class" she announced before shooing the smaller boy out of the room so he wouldn't stare at the four Marauders any further, should he get any ideas.

"Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew. If this was some dark scheme to miss your first day of term your sadly mistaken, now unless you want me to place another 'Silencio' on you I suggest you button up and do your work". 

******

Sirius glanced cautiously around himself before beckoning to James and Remus quickly. The trio assembled a line before nodding accordingly, Peter having gotten wind of what they were planning had dissapeared long ago, not quite up to another peformance in front of the great hall on his first day back. 

"Now" Sirius spoke up choosing his words carefully, "we all know what to do right?" he announced carefully. As one they sauntered into the hall moving as inconspicuously as they could toward the middle of the hall before Sirius spoke up, in more a yell then anything, "I WILL SURVIVE!".

Remus grinned slightly as James bit at his tongue, trying not to get the main part while Sirius clapped his hands over his mouth. The werewolf turned abruptly pale as his mouth opened of its own accord for the 'grand finale'. From out of nowhere a giant spotlight panned to black out the rest of the hall and rest upon the three Marauders causing all action to stop and attention to rest upon the three.

From out of nowhere a piano seemed to roll out a scale before Remus' mouth opened and he began to sing along glaring for all he was worth at Sirius who snickered accordingly. "First I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. but then I spent so many nights thinkin bout how you did me wrong and I grew strong and I learned how to get along!".

The background music suddenly escalated as Remus sent a withering glare towards Sirius and James and continued, "And so your back, from outer space. I just walked in to find you with that sad look upon your face. I shoulda changed that stupid lock, I should've made you leave your key, If I'da known for just one second you'd be back to bother me".

Remus groaned as the others began to finally back him up and continued, "Go on now go, walk out the door, just turn around now, cos your not welcome anymore. Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye, did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die, Oh no not I! I will Survive, oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive. I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give, I will survive, I will survive. Hey hey!".

Sirius abruptly swept forward relieving Remus of his spotlight and causing the werewolf to grin somewhat as Sirius dramatically took over throwing himself into a true performance. He focused abruptly upon the staff table, "it took all the strength I'd left, not to fall apart. Just trying hard to mend the peices of my broken heart, and I spent all so many nights just feeling sorry for myself I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high!."

Sirius appeared to be having a ball, dramatically over-gesturing and splaying his hands in true Broadway style as though he belonged on the stage, as he went to sing the next lines he dramatically clasped Remus' hands and continued. "And you'll see me, with somebody new I'm not that chained up little person still in love with you! And so you felt like dropping in and just expect me to be free? Now I'm saving all my lovin for someone whos loving me! Go on now go, walk out the door, just turn around now cos your not welcome anymore. Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye? Do you think I'd crumble? Do you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no not I! I will survive, Oh as long as I know how to love I know i"ll stay alive, I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give. I will survive, I will survive."

As he moved on to repeat Remus mumbled something aloud about, "where the hell is that music coming from?". "Go on now go! Walk out the door.. Just turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore! Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye? Do you think I'd crumble? Do you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no not I! I will survive, Oh as long as I know how to love I know i"ll stay alive, I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give. And I'll survive, I will survive. I will survive!" at this last line he dragged out the note waving his arms theatrically and earning a hearty snicker from James who was all but shoved ruthlessly into the spotlight by the other two.

"It took all the strength I'd left, not to fall apart. Just trying hard to mend the peices of my broken heart, and I spent all so many nights just feeling sorry for myself I used to cry, but now I hold my head up high! And you'll see me, with somebody new I'm not that chained up little person still in love with you! And so you felt like dropping in and just expect me to be free? Now i"m saving all my lovin for someone whos loving me!". James by now was burning bright red and sending glares over his shoulder in the other twos direction who apparently took pity on their friend and joined him in the main spotlight.

In unison they continued the last chorus. "Go on now go! Walk out the door... Just turn around now! Cause you're not welcome anymore. Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye? Do you think I'd crumble? Do you think I'd break down and die? Oh no not I! I will survive, Oh as long as I know how to love I know i"ll stay alive, I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give. I will survive. I will survive!."

As the music drowned out and the spotlight dissapeared the three Marauders exchanged blank looks and Remus once again spoke up curiously. "Where did that music come from?". It appeared however, that people had cottoned onto the key that triggered the spell and suddenly Lily Evans, looking rather amused at her chance to get one over on the Marauders who so often embarassed her with their little escapades called out, "Mack!".

Remus immediately stuffed his fist in his mouth along with James but Sirius however didn't appear to want to. Indeed it looked as though he was having fun as he once again began to sing to the halls amusement. "Oh the shark has, pretty teeth dear. And he shows them pearly whites, just a jack knife has old Mack Heathbane. And he keeps them out of sight. When the shark bites with those teeth dear, scarlet billows start to spread. Fancy gloves always Mack Heathbane, so theres never, never a trace of red. Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear. And now Mack he's, back in town!". Both Remus and James exchanged raised eyebrows as Sirius finished the song.

"Er...Siri... Since when did you become a lounge singer.." James muttered eyeing him out of the corners of his eye doubtfully, "it's my dad!" Sirius complained and blinked as snickers erupted around him. Lily waved cheerfully as the three Marauders glanced in her direction reproachfully. 

"Aaah Music. A greater magic then we teach here I'm afraid" came a contented voice from above them and the three Marauders jumped and glanced up at Dumbledore who was now looming over them, "well Mister Black, Mister Potter and Mister Lupin. It seems I have to once again thankyou for a nights unexpected entertainment. Ten points to Gryffindor each for that amusing little performance, although I'm sure the rest of your students would like to continue their meals now..".

The three Marauders exchanged glances before sidling towards the Gryffindor table and laughing nervously as they sat down and began to pile food onto plates, Lily appeared to still be giggling to herself as she dropped down across from them and raised an eyebrow. "That was entertaining" she mused aloud cocking her head to the side and grinning, "you should sing more often James. You aren't as bad as you think you are".

James turned pink and deliberately shook his head quickly. "Never again" he grunted nodding towards Sirius and Remus, "they can become broadway stars for all I care but I'm not singing with them". Sirius mock-pouted and began to flutter his eyelashes at James, "aww Jamie! You don't mean it really, of course you want to come to broadway with me an Remy". 

Lily rolled her eyes slightly and turned toward Remus. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about the competition Remus. It's really horrible how they've exploited you and that other guy by selling all those records without giving you the prizes". Remus turned starkwhite and turned abruptly to Lily with a squeak of, "WHAT?".

"Oh.. You.. Didn't.. Know". She laughed weakly and glanced frantically towards Sirius who had been shaking his head violently at her for the last minute or so mouthing unspeakable words that she hadn't picked up on. Remus turned his head from Sirius to James to Lily before narrowing his eyes sharply and stabbing at a piece of meat on his plate viciously. 

Standing up he stalked off leaving only a wobbling fork sticking up at an almost vertical angle out of the meat. Lily glanced between Sirius and James with a sigh and murmured, "I've blown it haven't I?".

*****

A/N: . -clutches purple stuffed monkey- Eeeeee ^___^. Reminds me of Siri-chan actually. -jabs the monkey thoughtfully in the stomach- Domou Arigatou Slice-sama (who I believe gave me the purple monkey @_@;; In fact I'm sure of it!). Okay I think it's time I answered a few questions regarding the way this ficcy is going hahem.

I've decided to split this saga into four different parts for their school years, who knows I might continue past if I get inspired enough. it'll go as follows:  
Playing With the Boys: First and Second Years.  
Second Ficcy wiff Undecided Title: Third and Fourth Years.  
Third Ficcy WUT: Fifth and Sixth Years.  
Fourth and Final WUT: Seventh year and perhaps beyond?

Okay for Playing With the Boys I've decided there won't be any slash, for now that is. I just think that with some readers expressing their wishes for this not to be slash it made sense, as I really think that 11 and 12 year olds are way to young to go around and declare their in love with one of their best mates and start snogging each others brains out. It just doesn't happen I tell you! But The Slash will come into it in the next installment, and there will be little hints leading up through second year. So those who desperately want this to be slash.. Woohoo your wish is granted. And those who don't want slash are still free to finish this particular installment and can choose not to read the next part. Simple enough right? ^____^ good good.

Sorry for taking so long in updating lately, I've finished Pride of Ice finally so it should be, Oh cool quicker updates with the lack of work! Bzzt Wrong. Stupid Cathy-Bloom decides to start writing about five more different stories at the same time. Gah, I'm a sucker for punishment. ;; -clings to purple stuffed monkey-. I was asked a very profound question actually In one of my reviews, which I believe was also asked by Slice-sama when she gave me the MONKEH! I believe it went along the lines of 'What would YOU do if a monkey asked you to hold his banana?'.

If this particular Monkeh happened to be Sirius then the answer would be, MOST CERTAINLY Mistah Monkeh ^_______^. Hehe.. that's enough of that now. I would like to introduce however my most reluctant evil muse. -shoves Tomo out under a spotlight- He is what spawns most of my angsty ficcys.. have no idea what inspired this ficcy ^_____^;;

Hmmm.. for some random reason I'm gonna take a poll, hahum. Who's the favourite random Character from this ficcy so far? is it;  
A) Banana the Owl. (hint hint Pick me!)  
B) Professor Moore, the insane Defense Teacher.  
C) Daniel Adams, The random slightly angsty Rocker dood from the Competition.  
D) Professor Luff, the badazz potions guy.  
E) Darryl Higgs, the hero-worshipper little firstyear that debuted last chapter!  
F) Oliver Black, Sirius' dad :S  
G) Penelope Morag, Loveable Aunt Penny :D  
H) For a bit of competition... Marcus Potter, James' Dad!  
I) Specify here :D

Cathy-Blooms tip of the chapter: I suggest you vote for Moore, the dood doesn't take losing very well .;; But my personal choice is... BANANA. Woo Thats Owlz got skills! -gets sconed in the back of the head by an orange- I mean Moore! VOTE FOR MOORE!


	24. Halloween

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Three: Halloween.

A/n: -squeals and glomps the life-sized Chocolate-dipped Sirius cookie- Arigatou gozaemasu Slice-sama! -munches on it's ear cheerfully-. Thankyou'll for your reviews.. it actually inspired me to update again o.o;; this chapter just seemed to whip past, since in the first year I didn't really mention Halloween I decided to do a chapter dedicated to it. So oilah! We have one. ^___^ I've decided to let the poll run on since I'm updating again so quickly, let's just remind you shall we?

Who's the favourite random Character from this ficcy so far? is it;  
A) Banana the Owl. (hint hint Pick me!)  
B) Professor Moore, the insane Defense Teacher.   
C) Daniel Adams, The random slightly angsty Rocker dood from the Competition.  
D) Professor Luff, the badazz potions guy.  
E) Darryl Higgs, the hero-worshipper little firstyear that debuted last chapter!  
F) Oliver Black, Sirius' dad :S  
G) Penelope Morag, Loveable Aunt Penny :D  
H) For a bit of competition... Marcus Potter, James' Dad!  
I) Specify here :D

Yeah, I shamelessly plugged Professor Moore in this chapter.. Only because he's a sore loser! And Banana is currently leading the race and somehow I don't wanna know what'd be like if old Moore lost a popularity contest to an owl.. But speaking of Banana... He's currently very happy ^__^ Arigatou again Slice-sama. He's been a bit left out as of late but don't worry, Banana is making a comeback! Wooo, next chapter should have some Banana-ness. Another old face is back in this chapter and Remy's admirer reminds me somewhat of 'Oragoth the Relentless' -twitches- "Now you'll see why they call Oragoth, The RELENTLESS!". . Otogi-ness! -daps her EVIL muse-. Yes.. evil ^_^;; er... anyway. Woo let's get on with it. Skittles 'n Coke for good little reviewers. Mweeeee! Taste The Rainbow.

*****

Even weeks after Lily's accidental slip of the tongue at the Gryffindor table Remus Lupin was still touchy about the subject. His anger, though not directed at Lily personally, had proved to be quite a conversation killer should someone so much as mention the word 'competition' in his hearing range. Though at present it seemed that the Marauders were in very high spirits and this was because of one reason and one reason only and that was most easily explained by one word, Halloween.

This was only escalating by the fact that Dumbledore, in a lapse of sanity had announced that he would be holding a costume dance to celebrate the occasion of Halloween this year. Which was precisely why four Marauders were crowded around a rather ugly statue of a one-eyed crone with Peter keeping a sharp lookout as Sirius tapped it's back with his wand and announced brightly, 'discendo'.

When the hatch on it's back slid open they wasted no time in quickly slipping through the offered opening and dropping to the ground beneath it. Once all of the group had assembled they nodded their approval before hurrying off down the tunnel, in hopes to be their and back before anyone noticed that they were missing.

"Brilliant idea Jamie, coming to Hogsmeade to get our costumes I mean" Sirius called out brightly as they stumbled along the dark tunnel, wands glowing eerily as they were brandished forwards. "Thankyou Siri, I thought so to" James replied brightly as he stumbled over a tree root before yelping as he ran into Remus' back.

Remus too let out a yelp as he was sent crashing to the ground and grumbled irritably as James returned him to a feet with a sheepish, "sorry Remy". 

It didn't take long at the pace they were going before they found themselves at level with the trapdoor, James volunteering to go first and help them with the 'mission' to get out of Honeydukes unspotted. As he scrambled out of sight the three remaining Marauders paused, waiting to help boost Peter up through the trapdoor at the first sign that it was all clear.

Within a few seconds James' face reappeared and he hissed, "send 'im up". Remus and Sirius exchanged glances before grinning and grabbing one of Peter's legs each, lazily hoisting him up at a rate that nearly had the smallest Marauder screaming in his surprise. James thankfully clapped a hand over Peter's mouth as he helped the other Marauder through the trapdoor before Sirius was boosted up through the hole without a delay.

Remus was hoisted up through the trapdoor quickly as the sound of feet scuffling on the stairs sounded and they hurriedly shoved the trapdoor shut and ducked behind crates as the person came strutting down the staircase humming to himself. "Bring up some more jelly slugs Roger, they're running low and you know that the students will be coming soon!". The man they presumed to be Roger grunted in response and bent double as he picked up a large crate stamped with 'Jelly Slugs' and dissapeared back up the stairs.

James skittered out from behind his crate edging along the wall towards the staircase humming beneath his breath as he darted his head around the corner and waved a hand in their direction. "Alls clear, move out!". The three remaining Marauders hurriedly followed James' lead, edging up the staircase before ducking below the counter level and racing for the door.

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" James roared to the sky as the door clanged shut behind them and they ran into the semi-crowded Hogsmeade street. When people turned to stare Sirius sighed and smacked James heavily over the head with a mutter of, "your an idiot Jamie.. a first class idiot".

Remus raised an eyebrow and shook his head, "no matter how right you may be Siri this isn't the time to discuss Jamie's idiocy. We have a mission to complete, am I correct Pete?". The smallest Marauder jumped before nodding hurriedly, "correct Remy. Your mission should you to choose to accept it, is to find the smashingest costumes for tonights Halloween Costume Ball. Requirements being we look smashingly smashing and a darn sight more smashing then any other smashing costumes that dear to be smashing amongst all our smashing glory".

Remus groaned softly, "I knew we shouldn't've let Siri word our objective" he muttered aloud and James nodded his head emphatically. "I dare say I have to agree Remy m'lad. But that isn't important right now -". Sirius cut him off with a wave of his hand, "no. The important thing is that by all means we look absolutely smashing". A collective groan ensued and Sirius beamed broadly. "Simply smashing" he repeated and was clouted heavily over the head by Remus in response.

"Well, where shall we find these fabled 'smashing' costumes you speak of Siri?" James spoke up and Sirius rose his fingers to his chin, rubbing thoughtfully as though this gesture (which he assured them made him look dignified) would bring all the answers they needed. "Aha!" he announced loudly causing Peter to jump again and stare in curiosity at the grinning Sirius.

"We shall go forth to Gladrags Wizarding Wear, where we shall aquire the professional aid of a shop assistant!". Remus gasped aloud eyes widening, "not a shop assistant Siri!". "Yes Remy my dear, a shop assistant!". James covered his mouth to mask the fact that he was the source of the next ominous sounding noise, "dun, dun dun DUN".

Peter groaned and shook his head at the antics of his friends before turning and making his way down the street towards the Gladrags store with a mutter. "So what are we going to go as my good friends?" Sirius spoke up abruptly upon finding that Peter had already left without them. "Petey! Wait up already" James groaned and the smallest Marauder paused in his trek allowing them to catch up.

"Here's an idea Siri.. It's halloween.. so maybe.. Just maybe, we should go as.. Oh I dunno.. HALLOWEENISH STUFF!" Remus spoke up cooly and Sirius blinked at him in mock-horror. "Remy! Whatevers come over you... we couldn't possibly show up as 'halloweenish stuff'! It would ruin our image as the most smashing individuals Hogwarts has ever seen".

James rose his fist at this comment with an outlandish roar of, "here here Siri!'. Sirius took a bow in response and Remus rolled his eyes, "well then Mister Personality. What are we going to go as?" he spoke up cooly raising an eyebrow challengingly. Sirius took up the challenge marvellously by raising BOTH of his eyebrows in response, Remus' jaw dropped as though this were a challenge he certainly couldn't refuse.

"Was... that a challenge Siri?" he spoke up, eyebrow quivering from it's raised position. Sirius cast an off-hand sly glance at the werewolf, "it could have been..." he responded with a smug smirk. "You did not just challenge the master of all eyebrow-raising to an duel of eyebrows did you Siri?" Remus continued raising his other eyebrow to match the first.

Sirius grinned and waggled his eyebrows in response, "what are you gonna make of it Lupin" he added with a smirk. Peter groaned softly as Remus banged his chest with his hands with a call of, "bring it on Black!". "Oh I will Lupin!" Sirius responded diving at the werewolf and dragging them both to the ground.

As the pair began to roll around on the ground in a contest of duels James casually leaned on Peter's shoulder with a curious murmur of, "interesting isn't it Petey? Seeing animals interacting in their natural habitat...". As one Remus and Sirius looked up, eyes almost feral as they landed on James who began to laugh nervously, "let's go get these costumes shall we!" he squeaked out before hot footing it down the street towards the store with a yell as an echo of, "YOU BETTER RUN POTTER!" followed him up the street.

Sirius and Remus tore after him like hounds on a scent drawing yelps from James as Peter with a small sigh followed after them shaking his head. By the time he reached Gladrags Wizarding Wear the three were already inside with James having been caught in a headlock by Sirius while Remus performed the much acclaimed 'nouggie' torture on James already messy head of black hair.

"GUYS!" he suddenly roared out causing all three to jump and stare at him wide-eyed. "Er... shouldn't we be getting those costumes now?" he added as an afterthought and all three glanced at each other sheepishly before releasing the others and running their fingers through their hair as one in an attempt to maintain the 'cool' factor.

"Well my fellow Marauders" Sirius spoke up finally having decided he'd looked cool again for long enough and turning to his friends as a smile crawled across his lips and his eyes gleamed with delight. "I have an idea for our costumes" with that he gestured to all three with a grin before turning towards the shop assistant who was lurking in the shadows nearby like a vulture ready to swoop when it's prey showed any signs of weakness, "excuse me! Can you show me to the muggle section of clothing..".

*****

Remus winced slightly as he carefully readjusted the 'distinguished' top hat that rested atop his hair, which had been on Sirius' insistance combed through with a concoction made by Sirius' father. He knew now why Sirius' hair always looked so tangle-free and shiny.

He carefully readjusted the bow-tie around his neck before turning to where Sirius was waiting, all ready dressed and swinging an elegant cane in his hand as he waited, a mischevious grin on his face. Remus had to admit that Sirius did look good, the formal muggle-wear would definitely stand out amongst the sea of pumpkins and princesses.

Each of them had been fitted with a white shirt, golden embroidered waistcoat, black trousers, black coat with tails, black bow tie and black top-hat. As Peter had wailed upon finding his set of clothes they looked like they were going to a muggle wedding, however James seemed delighted with his outfit. Especially since the shop assistant had even fitted him with a monacle to replace his glasses for the night.

Sirius grinned broadly as he picked up his own top-hat and placed it atop of his head before offering the crook of his arm to Remus, "c'mon. Jamie and Pete are waiting downstairs with Lils". The pair headed downstairs, Sirius swinging his cane rythmically as he walked while Remus tried to fix the handkerchief that Sirius insisted was needed folded into their pockets.

As he reached the bottom step and caught sight of James, Remus couldn't help but burst out laughing. James looked in all his glory, as though he were a count from some foreign country. He had puffed out his chest and was standing up very tall, a cane similar to Sirius' was balanced upon the floor, his gloved hands wrapped casually around the head of it which bore the Gryffindor crest. The monacle was perched upon his left eye and his top-hat was titled on an angle.

Upon Remus' laughter however James blinked and stuck out his bottom lip. "I don't look that ridiculous do I?" he spoke up blinking slightly as Lily began to giggle as Sirius pompuously sashayed past her and tossed his head all the while dragging Remus with him. Lily was dressed however, as what they presumed to be a fairy.

A crown of daisies was looped around her head and her face was dusted with light golden power which shimmered in the light, a pale green dress floated out from her shoulders and a pair of wings which had been charmed to flutter behind her were creating a strange surreal affect to her costume.

Peter was looking distinctly uncomfortable as he tried to tug at the to-tight bow-tie. Remus grinned lopsidedly and gave up on trying to arrange the handkerchief and instead pulled his gloves on carefully, as the same with James' they were white formal gloves and when James lazily chucked his own cane to him he grinned broadly and glanced around at the group.

"Let's go then shall we?" he announced pompuously once more puffing out his chest. Remus hid a smile at James' antics and instead offered an arm to Lily who took it to Sirius' dismay who began to wail loudly, "but Remy my dear! We look so good together!". Lily began to giggle loudly at this and announced, "he has two arms Sirius". 

"Brilliant idea Lils" Sirius commended her before taking up his position on Remus' other side, James took up a position hurriedly on Lily's other side leaving Peter to lazily roll his eyes and weave his way towards the portrait hall. "Let's hurry, I heard Dumbledore hired a really good band this year" he called over his shoulder and the Marauders swept off towards the great hall all grinning madly at the prospect of making an unforgettable entrance to the hall.

******

Silence seemed to hit the great hall as another group of five swept inside the hall. The students stared in surprise at the four second years known most commonly as 'the Marauders' dressed in Muggle finest and the red-headed girl that was hidden in the midst of their group. Whispering soon recovered as the four swept into the room and made a bee-line for where Joe and Locke were making conversation with a couple of Hufflepuff second years.

"Joseph! Simply spiffing to see you old boy" Sirius called out wildly recieving a wide-eyed stare from the boy in question who's eyes swivelled in turn upon each Marauder before he began to laugh. "Where did you guys get your costumes from?" he exclaimed as he snickered with a shake of his head and Locke soon followed suit.

James adjusted his monacle and sniffed pompuously, "absurd. What costumes do you speak of?" he retorted cooly and was met by two blinking stares before he grinned and winked discretely. "Geeze I was just joking" he muttered as an afterthought. There was a sudden screech as Dumbledore tapped experimentally at a make-shift microphone which was hovering in mid-air.

"Welcome. I trust you are all here now, I ask you to help yourself to the buffet table which is currently located to your left. But now however, without further delay I present to you tonights entertainment, the talented Mister Daniel Adams!". Remus' eyes bulged as a familiar sandy-blonde-haired boy took the stage, waving his hand enthusiastically and tapping the microphone with his wand. It abruptly hovered upwards the meet his height and he smiled in satisfaction.

"Good evening everybody!" he roared out as Remus' jaw hit the floor and moaned aloud softly, "bloody hell..".

*****

Remus lazed against the wall of the room, shifting the cane from one hand so he could readjust his gloves, boredly tilting the top-hat back he glanced up to watch as James, currently swirling Lily Evans around in the floor in a crazy unchartered dance that had the red-head shrieking at him to stop making her dizzy swept past. Sirius had dissapeared to try and surprise 'Danny boy' while Peter was currently preoccupied with the buffet.

All in all he was feeling rather bored as he readjusted the bow tie that clung uncomfortably close to his throat, "Pete was right, these things are too bloody tight" he muttered off-handedly as he struggled with it with a frown. He was just watching as Sirius slithered up towards the make-shift stage when a bored all-to familiar drawl echoed lazily, "alright there Lupin. You're looking a bit flustered".

Whipping his head around Remus couldn't help but groan at the approaching all-to-familiar group of Slytherins who had in his lapse of concentration managed to catch him unaware. Amongst them was of course his unrelenting admirer, Evan Rosier. "Is there something you wanted in particular Malfoy?" he spoke up with an air of calm that didn't really mix with the fluttering in his chest, he lifted his eyes towards the smirking youth who was currently dressed as a vampire.

"Well actually, Rosier here might have a request or two" he commented airily. "He seems to be under the impression that you are ignoring him Lupin. But that can't be right, can it?" something about the strange smug smirk on Malfoy's face made Remus begin to doubt whether this was the 'innocent' conversation that it was being made out to be. Not to mention the fact that his wand was lying safe up in his dormitory.

"Get to your point Malfoy" Remus snapped back folding his arms over his chest and glancing casually over as he twirled the cane nervously between his fingers. "My point Lupin, is that Rosier here wants to dance, and if you value the little rat Pettigrew's health, then I should volunteer".

Remus' eyes flickered abruptly towards the buffet table where Peter was oblivious to the exchange, cheerfully scouring the table for his favourite foods before moving towards Sirius who was now engaged in a lively conversation with 'Danny boy'. James and Lily were lost amongst the mass of dancers mixed upon the floor before moving back to the group of Slytherins and narrowing his eyes.

"Looks like your little friends have deserted you Lupin, just when you needed them too. And my bet is that you left your wand back up in your dormitory didn't you?" Snape spoke up abruptly as Rosier, amidst them all was suddenly sent forward by a none-to-gentle push. Remus glanced over the group of Slytherins who were looking by all means rather smug as Rosier fidgeted. A part of Remus felt slightly sorry for the boy, he wasn't that bad looking at all, he just didn't interest Remus at all.

"Get lost" he snapped abruptly twirling the cane between his fingers and Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "What was that Lupin? I didn't quite hear you" a casual glance towards the Buffet caused Remus to follow towards where a smirking distinctly Slytherin figure was rolling his wand between his fingers.

James and Lily were still nowhere to be seen and Sirius was snickering wildly as he talked to good old 'danny boy' leaving Remus wandless and in the midst of several armed Slytherins threatening harm upon his friends. "Fine" he snapped out finally through gritted teeth and casting a disgusted look in the Slytherin groups direction to see Rosiers lips break into a smile.

Feeling distinctly awkward when he felt his arm being grabbed by the Slytherin he bit back a growl as they reached the dancers, he nearly jumped as he heard a voice drawl over his shoulder. "No funny stuff Lupin, we're watching you" casting a hateful glare in the Slytherins direction he conceded to awkwardly, trying to keep as further distance as possible dancing with the person he had tried to avoid since the beginning of term.

"Why didn't you reply to my letters?".

The question startled Remus out of his silent brooding and he blinked in surprise at the Slytherin boy, who looked if anything rather hurt. "I thought we sorted this out last year. I don't like you" Remus replied sharply as the boys eyes seemed to portray even more hurt, "but I thought that maybe if you just read my letters then -".

"Get the hell away from him Rosier!".

The Slytherin was ripped forcefully away from Remus by a considerably angered Sirius Black whos eyes narrowed dangerously as his eyes flickered towards the group of Slytherins before turning back to Remus. "Siri - don't it's Pete" Remus spoke up quickly as the Slytherin standing lazily by the buffet suddenly sprang to action, waving his wand they looked up in time to see the smallest Marauder double over clutching at his stomach.

The commotion didn't go unnoticed as people turned to watch and professors began to race towards the scene eyes narrowing to try and break up the brawl. Malfoy raised his wand tauntingly, "kicking yourself aren't you Black? Bet your wishing you never left Lupin all alone now aren't you. Now one of your friends is in a great deal of physical pain while the other still has a deal to go through with, don't you Lupin?".

Remus' eyes narrowed sharply at this as Sirius glanced between the pair in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about Malfoy! You can't force Remy to do anything, he doesn't like Rosier got it. And you can't make him". Malfoy's smirk only grew however at this proclamation, "well now Black. That isn't entirely true now is it? Lupin here agreed to a term and he has to carry it out. Magical binding and all of that".

Sirius blinked and glanced between Remus towards Rosier then back to Malfoy before grabbing his friends arm and dragging him off into the sea of dancing students and towards the stage. "What the hell was all of that about?" he hissed as he dragged him towards where Daniel Adams was humming to himself placidly while sitting on the edge of the stage as though waiting.

"Well the bloody gits cornered me didn't they" Remus snapped back pulling a face. "Said they'd curse Pete if I didn't dance with Rosier. I didn't see you guys volunteering to help out so I had to didn't I? Then you came along and now Pete's probably going to have to go to the hospital wing!". "Pete'll be fine" Sirius replied sharply directing him toward the stage where 'Danny boy' suddenly broke into a grin.

"Well if it isn't Remus Lupin" he announced grinning broadly as he jumped off the stage and landed deftly on his feet. "Sirius here said you might care to do a little performance with me" he added broadly before noticing the dark look on the second years face. "Geeze what's eating you?" he spoke up raising an eyebrow curiously. "Remy's got an unwanted admirer, that's all" Sirius spoke up cooly before grinning somewhat. "C'mon Remy! You can't say you'd pass up the oppurtunity to sing with good ol' Danny boy here would you?".

Remus sighed defeatedly and shrugged. "Of course I wouldn't" he conceded with a sigh and Daniel grinned broadly, "great then" he announced. "I've just got one song left to sing solo and then we can do a double act". With that he leapfrogged back onstage and cut off the pre-recorded music before taking back the mic and swinging a guitar over his shoulder.

Sirius glanced at Remus who raised an eyebrow as the drum beat took over from out of nowhere before Daniel began to play the upbeat rock tone. His voice sounded distinctly different then Remus remembered as he began to sing.

"I have visions, I was in them, I was looking into the mirror. To see a little but clearer. The rocks and the said evil in me. My fingertips like memories, I can't forget the curves of your body. And when I feel abit naughty, I run it up the flagpole and see.. Who still looks but no-one ever does." Quite a few eyebrows shot up as he grinned toothily at the crowd before continuing.

"Buuuut, I'm not sick but i'm not well. And I'm so hot.... Cause I'm in hell. Buuuut, I'm not sick but I'm not well, and it's a sin, to live so well". Sirius grinned at this as the students shrugged and continued dancing as Professor Moore snickered appreaciatively and kicked his feet up on the staff table ignoring the sharp looks that Professor Mcgonagall sent his way.

"I've been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding, the cretons cloning and feeding and I don't even own a tv. They put me in the hospital for nerves and then they had to commit me, You told them all I was crazy! They cut off my legs now i'm an amputee god damn you." 

Remus couldn't help but shake his head as he laughed silently to himself as Daniel was obviously having alot of fun performing this song. "Buuuut, I'm not sick but i'm not well. And I'm so hot.... Cause I'm in hell. Buuuut, I'm not sick but I'm not well, and it's a sin, to live so well".

"Iiii wanna publish scenes, and rage against machines.. I wanna pierce my tongue it doesn't hurt it feels fine... " his voice seemed to trail off becoming indecipherable before coming back full force as he hit another verse, "Paranoia, Paranoia everybody's coming to get me! Just say you never met me! I'm running off to camp with the moles, stupid moles. I hear the voices in my head, I swear to god it sounds like their snoring, but when your poignant and boring.. The agony and the irony they're killing me well! Buuuut, I'm not sick but i'm not well. And I'm so hot.... Cause I'm in hell. Buuuut, I'm not sick but I'm not well, and it's a sin, to live this well." 

As he finished singing scattered applause met his ears as a great deal of the audience were merely staring up at him with raised eyebrows. Only Professor Moore seemed to be whole-heartedly cheering now as he let out a cat-call which caused the tiny Professor Flitwick to fall out of his chair.

"Now.. to join me up on stage, two very good friends of mine. Mister Sirius Black and Mister Remus Lupin!". Scatters of applause rang through the crowd as the pair of Marauders scrambled onstage and glanced sideways at the performer who appeared to be tuning his guitar thoughtfully. "Well then Lupin, Black. What shall we sing?".

Remus nearly fell flat on his face as Sirius grinned up at the strange character that was Daniel Adams, he certainly wasn't normal, that was for sure.

******


	25. Defense Cricket

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Four: Defense Cricket.

A/n: -eye twitches- Will the Slash be Siri/Remy? Will it be Siri/REMY? WILL IT BE SIRI/REMY? Hell son! Of course it will. :D Will Moore make more of an impact in this chapter then he did in his last... What will Danny Boy and Siri/Remy sing? Will Moore ever get another classroom scene? Will Banana ever make a comeback in this story? Will Jimmy's Purple Cat ever make a comeback? Will that annoying little Hero-worshipper firstyear ever become popular? Will the marauders ever -gets smacked over the head by her EVIL Tomo-muse- Er.. right sorry bout that.. got abit carried away ^____^   
Now I believe that Slice-sama remembered my bribe 'confarnit I actually have to give away my Skittles 'n coke! -begrudgingly hands out the bribes to all reviewers-. Ahh well, you may be able to TASTE THE RAINBOW. But I still have me.. -cough- MnMnMnMnMnMnMnM's Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. And to Halley-sama who seems to have been intent on Reviewing as much as she possibly can - hell I'm not complaining ^_____^ Thankyou for getting so into this story, It's great having very involved Reviewers ^___^ Aaaah one big happy MWPP Family. Weeeeeeeeeeee . Right! Back to business:  
Kay guys the poll is officially Closed~! Just to refresh your minds, these were your choices!

Who's the favourite random Character from this ficcy so far? is it;  
A) Banana the Owl. (hint hint Pick me!)  
B) Professor Moore, the insane Defense Teacher.   
C) Daniel Adams, The random slightly angsty Rocker dood from the Competition.  
D) Professor Luff, the badazz potions guy.  
E) Darryl Higgs, the hero-worshipper little firstyear that debuted last chapter!  
F) Oliver Black, Sirius' dad :S  
G) Penelope Morag, Loveable Aunt Penny :D  
H) For a bit of competition... Marcus Potter, James' Dad!  
I) Specify here :D

Banana undoubtedly came out on top with a Four votes - C'mon peoples! BANANA. Well at least thats what i thought until a last minute vote brought Moore up to tie with good ol' Banana. Heh he's a ledgend in his own bathrobe.  
Oliver Black an Danny Boy came Equal in second place with one votes each! Thanks to Slice-sama and Rena-Lupin-sama for giving these guys a chance to make it onto the board. Weeeeeeeeeee.  
All the others were completely pathetically underrated and recieved nooooo votes at all! None! Hahahaha.

Well I can understand the need for Banana to come out on top, I mean c'mon...It's Banana. o.O He's property of Siri as was stated Delena/Aneled Hupp-sama so of course he was gonna win. I didn't really expect ol' Moore to make a comeback like he did but hey.. You're the ones voting. ^____^; I've decided since that poll was so much fun I'm gonna do another one XD. 

Which of the Marauders do you believe made the best Halloween Pimp:  
A) Remussssssss LLuuuuuuuuupppppiiiiiiiiiiiin - C'mon Remy - you gotta go with supah cool Lupin!  
B) Siiiiirrrrriiiiiiiiuuuuuuusssssss Blllllllllaaaaaaccccckkkk - Siri's way too cool to come in second best! Hell - can't you just picture him with a Pimp stick?  
C) Jamesssssssssss Potttttteeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr- C'mon! The MONACLE! XD I could so picture him bein' the hell Pimp wiff his Pimp Stick an Monacle.  
D) Petttttteeeeeerrrrrr Pettttttiiiiiiiggggggrrrrrrreeeeeeewwwwwww - Er..... Do we really expect anybody to vote for poor little Petey-kins? Ahh well. Go Peter - wOo. Heh .... PITY VOTES WELCOME!  
E) Just for some variety... PROFESSOR MOORE - Well he aint a Marauder.. but aww c'mon Moore's Pimpin' 24/7 ^.~;;... we couldn't leave him out of a poll! 

And now without any further delay... Let's get on with the story shall we! ^____^ and to see a side of poor old Moore that we never wished to see... .;; Oh dear, things just go downhill when these ideas come into my head!

******

Remus nearly fell flat on his face as Sirius grinned up at the strange character that was Daniel Adams, he certainly wasn't normal, that was for sure.

******

Sirius Black beamed broadly towards where Daniel was rubbing his chin, obviously deep in thought. Sirius' mind was turning and it was quite obvious at least to Remus that he was thinking frantically. His face suddenly brightened and he turned quickly towards where Daniel seemed to be still rubbing his chin, "I've got it" he announced broadly recieving a curious look from Remus who he quickly beckoned forwards.

A soft mutter in the others ear had a smile spreading across Remus' lips in agreement, Daniel glanced at the pair completely non-plussed before grinning as Sirius announced his plan to him. "That'll do" he announced cheerfully before glancing back over his shoulder in hopes of finding more microphones.

Unsurprisingly hovering innocently in the air as though they'd been there all along were two more microphones which he lazily summoned before chucking to each of the Marauders. "You guys ready?" he declared cheerfully as the pair grinned back at him he nodded, the pair exchanged glances before taking up the background singing as music seemed to arrive from out of nowhere.

As one they crooned out, "oooohhOhoooHoho". Daniel grinned before sweeping forwards as people began to recognise the song and resumed dancing. "Uptown Girl, she's been living in her uptown world. I bet she never had a backstreet guy, I bet her momma never told her why. I'm gonna try.. For an uptown girl (uptown girlll).. She's been living in her white bred world.(White bred worlllldd) As long as any boy would have a chance( have a chance) , and now she's looking for a downtown man(down town man). That's what I am..".

Sirius swept forwards to take over leaving Daniel to grin with amusement, as he joined Remus in the background singing. "And when she knows what she wants from her ti-i-ime (wants from her time), and when she wakes up and makes up her mi-i-ind.. She'll see I'm not so tough, Just because I'm in love with an uptown girl." When Remus moved forwards to take Sirius' spot the pair in the background began to croon together causing Remus to fight to keep from laughing.

"Uptown girl. You know I've seen her in her uptown world (uptown world). She's getting tired of her high class toys(high class toys), and all the presents from her uptown boys.(uptown boys) She's got a choice..". Sirius and Daniel began to croon together again making Remus grin as Daniel once again moved forwards to take over the performance again.

"Uptown girl. You know I can't afford to buy her pearls, but maybe some day when my ship comes in. She'll understand what kind of guy I've been... and then I win". Sirius once again moved forwards grinning ear to ear and flashing a wink, "Aaand when she's walking she's loooking so fi-i-ine. And when she's talking, she'll say that she's mi-i-ine. She'll say I'm not so tough. Just because I'm in love with an Uptown Girl.".

Remus easily swept forwards to cut through grinning at Sirius as he did so, "She's been living in her white bred world. As long as any guy would have a chance, and now she's looking for a down-town man. That's what I am. Uptown girl, she's my uptown girl. I know i'm in love with an Uptown girl. My Uptown Girl. I know I'm in love with an uptown girl." As Sirius and Daniel moved in to star off their own overlapping layers the song slowly trailed off.

Sirius and Remus both grinned at each other as Daniel clapped them on the back as the crowd turned expectantly up for the next song.

******

Transfiguration was by all means Remus Lupins least favourite of all his subjects, perhaps with the exception of Potions. So it only seemed fitting of course, that this year they would be sharing the classroom then none other then everyones favourite Slytherins. Or so it seemed as Remus gloomily slunk down into his seat and glared half-heartedly in Mcgonagall's direction as a smug set of smirks were shot at them from the other side of the room.

"Why couldn't we be sharing it with the Ravenclaws?" he moaned aloud and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "As much as I agree with you on that point Remy, I really think this is a good oppurtunity to hex them. For example, should my wand accidently slip when trying to change my snuffbox back into a mouse..." Sirius grinned broadly as he flicked his wand lazily in the Slytherins direction with a mutter beneath his breath and a sudden yell of surprise erupted as Avery began to sprout whiskers and grey fur.

Remus began to snicker behind his hand as Peter glanced up to watch as Mcgonagall raced over to reverse the spell with a frown in place. "Pity she has to reverse it really. I thought it was a vast improvement" with a pretended huff Sirius hurriedly returned his snuffbox into it's previous mouse status and assumed the most innocent expression he could muster. James was bent intently over his own snuffbox making sure it turned back 'perfectly' into an adorable snuffling little mouse.

Remus however seemed to be having a great deal more trouble with his own task and was frowning down it while pulling a face. "Give me a good Defense class anyday" he murmured vaguely prodding the very much inanimate object with his wand with a frown. He near a jumped a foot in the air when Mcgonagall's voice erupted, "MISTER LUPIN!".

He winced and shrunk back rubbing at his abused ears as Mcgonagall inspected his snuffbox with a sigh, it didn't even seem to be partway returning to it's former mouse form. "Yes Professor?" he replied gloomily chancing a glance up at her frowning face, "you seem to be struggling" she observed aloud and he frowned.

"Well I wouldn't normally do this Mister Lupin, but I see great potential in you so I'm going to assign you to a tutor." Sirius immediately looked ready to jump to Remus' aid but Mcgonagall was much to quick, "preferably not you Mister Black" she added casting a frown down the line of Marauders. "I believe that Mister Wilkes would be suitable" she declared finally and Remus paled considerably and let out an audible moan as he sunk down further into his seat.

James looked about ready to jump to Remus' defense when Mcgonagall eyed them all sharply. "And not a word out of any of you. This silly house rivalry has gone far enough". Remus let out a defeated sigh and glanced with a wince towards the Slytherin's who were whispering conspiritvely amongst each other, no doubt making plans to make Remus' life as miserable as it could possibly be.

Sirius thumped him on the back with a mutter of, "don't worry Remy. We'll get you out of it", James nodded his approval as he kept a firm hold on the writhing brown mouse that was squeaking desperately as it attempted to escape. Mcgonagall cast a rare smile in his direction before announcing, "well done Mister Potter".

******

After Remus' disastrous morning Sirius was feeling rather glad that their next set of classes was Defence Against the Dark Arts. At least for Remus' sake that was, by the time they'd reached the classroom he was already grinning slightly again and they were all pleasantly surprised to find that Professor Moore seemed to have arrived sometime before them. This sparked a tiny bit of curiosity from the four Marauders as Moore was famous for his tendency to show up half-way through class-time and then chide them all for being swatty little prats.

"Well then Muppets, don't just stand there with your mouths flapping get inside and sit your asses down." Peter squeaked and hurriedly complied, his imminent fear of the insane Professor obvious as he slunk down as low as possible in his seat and peered nervously over the top with his eyes. Remus however gave a small grin before slumping down into his seat and glancing curiously up towards where Moore was lazily inspecting his fingernails.

Sirius lazed back into his chair and proceeded to stare unblinkingly at the teacher in question, this seemed to have become a class ritual for him. Moore and Sirius would spend about five minutes at the start of class in a staring match to see who would blink first, on the odd occasion that Sirius did win Moore would relinquish his class and play one of his absurd classroom games that seemed to have no bearing whatsoever on the subject at hand.

When Sirius' eyes began to water Moore purposely waggled his eyebrows tauntingly, his lips curving into an insane sort of smile as the rest of the class watched on in respectful silence. James however it seemed was prepared for this, slinking under his desk he proceeded to slither his way towards the front of the class towards Moore's desk in a sneak attack.

Remus watched in amusement as James carefully crouched behind Moore's desk, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he prepared to scare Moore into blinking. All of a sudden he sprung up from his seat clapping his hands together and successfully causing the Professor to blink several times in surprise.

With victory in his clutches James gave a whoop of triumph before punching at the air and making his way back towards his desk and Moore grunted aloud, grabbing the nearest object and flinging it at the back of James' head. James yelped out as the sneakoscope hit his head and turned to glare at the gleefully grinning Professor as he blew him a kiss and waggled his eyebrows.

"Since Potter decided to interfere yet again today, I've decided that we may as well have an... activity". His eyes gleamed cynically and James all but ran back to his desk as Peter slunk lower into his seat with a tiny squeak. Remus glanced curiously at the pair of them before back towards the Professor and raising an eyebrow.

"Oi! No-one raises their eyebrows in my classroom" Moore barked out in response to Remus' gesture and Remus unconsciously raised the other in surprise. "Was that a challenge Lupin?" Moore demanded eyes gleaming darkly and Remus blinked at him. "Er...". "Aha! It was a challenge, get out your duelling gloves Lupin". 

Remus blinked in confusion as he glanced towards Sirius muttering, "duelling gloves?". He got to his feet blinking at the Professor as he began to hum insanely to himself. He waggled his eyebrows towards the werewolf with an almost feral grin, "your ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower Lupin" he declared eyes gleaming.

Remus cast another helpless glance back at the other Marauders who were looking quite perplexed at just how Remus had managed to get himself into such a mess. "Quit stalling wingnut" Moore declared loudly and Remus sighed as he made his way towards the front of the class shaking his head.

He watched in quiet confusion as Moore began to rummage through his desk drawers, eventually drawing out what looked like a muggle tennis ball. Remus arched an eyebrow further towards his hair-line as Moore tossed it up and caught again before grinning maniacally. "Well then Lupin, you up for a game of defense cricket?".

Remus blinked at him for several minutes of confusion as a maniacally laughing Moore stared right back. 

*****

Sirius Black grinned broadly at the sulking rather sore form of his friend as he stretched out on one of the squashy sofa's in the Gryffindor common-room and let out a moan. "Moore is evil" he moaned out and Peter smirked somewhat smugly, "what have I been telling you all alone Remy? But no, you just said that he wasn't that bad."

James shrugged absently, "that's just Moore's way of showing you you're his favourite pupil Moon-baby. He's picking on you". Remus wrinkled his nose at the use of his brothers nick-name for him and stuck his tongue out in James' direction, "oh that's lovely Jim. Kicking me while I'm down".

Sirius yawned somewhat and peered boredly at the ceiling, "you guy's do realise that this is incredibally boring don't you?" he commented aloud. "A fine example we're setting for those First years over there, next thing they'll probably think it's cool to be right boring little goody-two-shoes like Joe 'n Locke".

James to wrinkled his nose at the mere suggestion, "you're right Siri. Absolutely absurd it'd be, having a bunch of first years thinking you're absolutely smashing because you act like a swatty little prat". Remus moaned softly and shook his head, rubbing his arm ruefully. "Defense Cricket my ass" he muttered vaguely before glancing up to find that he was staring directly into the curious blinking eyes of none other then..

"BANANA!". Sirius' outburst didn't go unnoticed as a large portion of the common room, mostly first years who had yet to adjust to Sirius' random outbursts as the owl was snatched up by Sirius who grinned broadly at it. Over in the corner Remus thought he heard a faint giggling, raising an eyebrow he peered around and caught sight of a familiar head of red-hair who'd obviously caught Sirius' outburst.

Sirius grinned broadly down at his disgusted looking owl who gave a disgruntled hoot as it stuck it's leg out in an indication for him to take the letter off. "Aww has Banana missed me?" Sirius drawled as he untied the letter and Banana hooted disgustedly in response before haughtily drawing up his wings and taking flight in an attempt to rid himself of their presence as quickly as he possibly could.

"He doesn't seem to like you much does he Siri?" Remus mused vaguely aloud as Sirius unrolled the letter and snickered heartily to himself. "It's from m'dad" he declared aloud as he peered down at the uneven scrawl that was his fathers handwriting.

Dear Sirius,  
It's good to hear that Hogwarts hasn't completely crumbled with having you nutters under it's roof. I'm even more surprised that we've gotten no bills for ruined rooftops and broken toilets. Well done I suppose, you've obviously managed to keep your misdemeanours very quiet.   
It seems we're still having trouble with that mad-man that's been causing trouble lately. Everyone at the Ministry is getting rather stressed out. Don't be surprised if you're defense teacher get's called away soon, Moore's a thumping good auror when he wants to be. It's surprising that he's still teaching with all that's been going on lately. Although the press has been keeping it remarkably quiet.   
Your Mother is missing you at the moment, I think it must be the racket that you cause when you're home.  
Say hello to the Potter brat and your other friends. Tell James that his dad says Hi... Don't forget to send me some chocolate frogs, your mothers been hiding mine from me.   
Love,  
Your Dad. XXXX

Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius as the boy blinked and folded the letter up stuffing it into his pocket. "M'dad says Hi" he added cheerfully before glancing around at the rest of the Marauders as they peered curiously at them. "Well, what d'you guys say that we head down to Hogsmeade and have a butter-beer? We haven't visited Rosmerta in a while."

James nodded and Remus gave a grunt of approval as he dragged himself out of his seat, Peter followed suit and the group lazily moved towards the portrait hall feeling in distinctly better spirits.

******

Madam Rosmerta perked an eyebrow and leaned forwards over the bar-top as four familiar faces peered up at her innocently, "well. I was wondering when you boys would be back to visit me again" she announced smiling brightly as she cast a glance around the fairly busy pub. "You better keep to yourselves tonight though, there's a few rough characters hanging around and I don't want you getting mixed up in anything that you shouldn't be".

Sirius to her delight fluttered his eyelashes at her and cast an innocent smile, "honestly Rosmerta. I thought you knew us better then that. We would never cause any trouble in here" his big blue eyes fluttered several more times before he cast a conspiritive grin towards his friends.

"Four butterbeers I assume?" she announced calmly, as she began to fill the flagons James took his chance to glance around thoughtfully. The Three Broomsticks was a great deal busier then it usually was, and as Rosmerta had implied it seemed that there were quite a few shady looking characters hanging around that James wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of.

He noticed Remus' own glance around the pub and grinned slightly at his friend who returned the grin before turning back to grab his own flagon of butterbeer when it was offered. The group cheerfully set off in search of an empty table and soon settled down at one sitting far away in the corner.

Sirius casually rummaged around in his pockets producing the well worked piece of parchment that at present displayed a web of lines which spidered out in all directions. The Marauders Map, as they had decided to title it, was coming along slowly but steadily. The vague shape of Hogwarts' maze of passages was beginning to take shape on the page and Sirius at seemed had taken the completion of the map right to his heart.

Remus casually prodded one of the lines on the paper and spoke up, "that corridor is closer to the Transfiguration classroom. Comes out right behind that tapestry of Rudolph the Ridiculous". He took a sip of his butterbeer and smiled as the liquid warmed him right through from head to toe. 

"This is much better then being stuck inside the castle" James declared beaming broadly around at them, Peter was currently guzzling down his butterbeer at a rapid speed as Sirius bent low over the map and began to redirect the passage that Remus had indicated. 

"You know" James spoke up suddenly, his eyes gleaming vaguely as he sunk back into his chair with a dreamy sort of smile in place on his face. "I might try out for the Quidditch team this year. I saw the try-outs up on the notice board" he mused staring down into his mug of butterbeer thoughtfully.

"You'd make the team no sweat Jim. Our team certainly needs another good player" Sirius spoke up absently tapping at the paper with his wand in an attempt to try and get the ink to set faster. James turned slightly pink at this and cast a wary glance around them, "d'you think so?" he murmured uncertainly and Remus grinned.

"No doubt about it Jamie" he offered taking another gulp of his butterbeer. "They need someone who can actually fly" Sirius added as though to confirm Remus' statement. James gave a faint grin and glanced towards Peter who was still absorbed in his butterbeer. "Of course you'll get on the team" Peter muttered absently aloud finally before taking another gulp of his butterbeer and casting a glance toward Sirius.

"Not that this isn't terribly exciting or anything" Sirius spoke up aloud glancing casually around at the faces of his friends, "but we haven't done any very worthy pranking as of late. And I'm afraid we may begin to lose our touch soon, the first years might get it into their heads that this is an open territory. And that is definitely not allowed".

Remus nodded his head vaguely, not really believing that the wide-eyed first years who had jumped at Sirius' outbursts all year were really capable of taking their spot as the resident pranksters. "Your fears are noted Siri and we shall work on extinguishing them" James muttered thoughtfully, drawing the beloved Pranking Bible from the pocket sewn into the chest of his robes. 

He lazily thumbed through the pages, his eyes narrowed with thought as he flicked over the well worn pages. A vague smile in place as the book fell open at the page, entitled 'Winter Wonderland'. A large #357 was scrawled to the top right corner and a stamp of 'accomplished' was slapped across the neat writing.

"It's still my favourite prank we've pulled off so far" Sirius murmured vaguely his eyes lingering on the page with a broad smile. Remus grinned vaguely as he remembered the looks that had ensued from the Slytherin table for weeks, that had been the prank that he had been sure would have put Evan Rosier off for good.

"Same here Siri" Remus murmured vaguely and James nodded his agreement. "Most definite Siri, although you have to admit that the first prank we pulled last year definitely had it's high points. I don't think I've ever seen Malfoy or Snape so embarassed as when they were singing along to Abba and The Village People". Peter began to chuckle quietly to himself as he remembered that day that seemed all so long ago.

He cast a glance around at the table of his laughing friends, Sirius once again absorbed in the Marauders map, James reading their accomplished Pranks aloud as Remus laughed along with him when they reached the memories and couldn't help the smile that grew steadily over his face. He doubted whether anyone had ever had friends like his, and couldn't help but wonder whether Hogwarts itself would last out their years.


	26. Quaffles and Strawberry Fields

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Five: Quaffles and Strawberry Fields.

A/n: -EVIL Tomo muse cackles maniacally in background- Er... heh. ^__^;; Arigatou for all the reviews again ^_^;; 

Slice-sama! So generous with the goodness of SKITTLES! -squeal- XD Don't worry ol' Moore won't be leaving quite yet, I'm not done tormenting the poor ickle french boy yet. Luci may well have gotten his pimp-stick cane idea from the Halloween Marauders O_O;; Dirteh filtheh stealin Luci! ;; Meh, he aint as good-a pimp as Siri-chan, nor Remy-chan for that matter... ahh my favourites ^___^ though Jamie-chan is pretty hot on their tails at the moment Mweep ^_^ Truth or Dare might come third year me thinks.. Truth or Dare tends to lead to dodgy circumstances and I swore I'd keep the Slash till then! ;; But Arigatou for the idea! 

Rena Lupin-sama... You actually NEARLY like my version of Pete? ;; Lol that's amusing! He usually gets bashed so very terribly, maybe I just feel sorry for him. And as for Defense Cricket.. XD the idea actually comes from another game that my insane ex-sos teacher played with us, and as Moore is based on this teacher it seemed only fitting. Except this was SOS Cricket. Basically he armed us with a tennis racket and threw tennis balls at us, if the people around ya caught the tennis ball then he got to ask us a SOS question. Except my teacher seemed to find it highly amusing to hit us with the tennis ball when we didn't expect it -.-;;; He truly was Satan Incarnate I tells ya. 

Faries.. Geeze down girl! Drop the capitals and speak in a calm rational manner, just now you remind me of a rabid squirrel! O.o;; Since you were so insistant I believe I will put Lily in this chapter - though don't expect her to be HAPPY Lily -sniggers- and the Quidditch Trials were gonna be the main focus of this chapter so WAIIII! There you go...

I give it all to Mr. Black.. Eee I love your name -gains giant sparkly shoujo-eyes- Thanks for the song suggestion, I'll try an put it in this chapter ^____^;;

Chiggins... SheEsh. My story can't be THAT interesting.. .;; Er.. though I am guilty of the same thing with certain ficcys ^__^;;. O_O;; are you mad woman? That teacher was the bane of my existence I tell you! He was pure evil and he knew it. He didn't even react when we pulled the old, Satan.. Oh I thought you were somebody else.. on him o_O;; But I suppose yeah, he WAS the best teacher I ever had. Even if he was abit.. insane? At least you were always in for a bit of a laugh whenever you went in. Banana jokes hmm.. well Banana IS making his comeback so he prolly will get some more space. Sorry for the long review? One again.. ARE YOU MAD WOMAN? o.o;; Cathy-Bloom likes long reviews. Long reviews are GOOD. Long reviews tend to hold more useful information which leads to changes in the authors style for the better. As for the slash, well I already DID explain this one a couple of times but i'll do it again. This part of the story will NOT be slash, as I've explained the Marauders Chronicles are gonna be split up into four parts, this one First and Second year aren't going to have slash. But from third year up it's kinda a done deal. I don't want rabid reviewers breathing down my neck for changing my mind! So if slash just isn't your thing then you're free to read this part of the story, but the rest WILL be slash. ^___^;; And James and Lily i'm not quite sure about yet, It may be in this ficcy but then again, they ARE still only like, twelve/thirteen year olds o_O. How many twelve/thirteen year olds do YOU know who have an actual relationship?

And last of all, Romm: -coughs and hacks violently- Moore and Aunt Penny O_O;;; Are you completely nuts! That's disturbing in every sense of the word.. I think I'll go quietly have a breakdown over here now --

-EVIL Tomo muse continues to cackle maniacally- Eheh! Anyways.. -shoves her newly invested security guard (Yami BAKURA! Bweee) towards Tomo- Go.. Eat him or somefin o.O;; I need to stop gettin angsty and start being HYPER! Weeeee. Er.. dun eat him all though. I'm still trying to write Imaginary here.   
Cathy-Bloom's Quote of the Day: Well, It looks like lady lucks got the hot's for Old Duke Devlin.. Like everyone else. What's that? Four summonings in a row? - Ryuuji Otogi (Duke Devlin) -Yu Gi Oh! XD Otogggiiiiiii -shoujo eyes-.  
Ja Ne,  
Cathy-Bloom.  
On with the show! I mean uh.. Story:

******

James Potter was, for one of the scarce times in his young life, extremely nervous. His fingers were constantly toying with the rims of his glasses and he felt more then a little bit small amongst the group of mostly third years who were trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Sirius, Remus and Peter were currently situated in the Quidditch Stands grinning madly at him and waving every chance that they got.

James however, was not nearly so confident as the Captain swept forwards with a stern glare in place that reminded James severely of the head of Gryffindor house, Professor Mcgonagall. After Marshall's graduation from Hogwarts the previous year he had been replaced with a new Captain, a towering fifth year by the name of Chris Jack. 

James clutched tighter to the broomstick which he held in his hands, he had informed his father that he intended to try-out for the Quidditch team and had recieved in reply a brand new broomstick. Glancing numbly around himself he recieved another session of excitable waving from the stands where it appeared that Lily Evans had joined the three remaining Marauders and was waving just as cheerfully as any of the others.

"- Now those who are trying out for the Chaser position, come with me". Nervously James followed at least a half-dozen others after the Captain who eyed them all thoughtfully before resting on James himself with a faintly amused grin. "Potter?" he declared aloud raising an eyebrow, James raised an eyebrow automatically in response with a daring, "Jack?".

"Well, let's see what you can all do then. Three at a time, Potter, Greggs, Fisher.. you first". James nervously mounted his broom and kicked off into the air. Almost immediately the usual excited soaring feeling filled his chest driving away his nerves and he couldn't help but grin and wave back to the group who were now cheering loudly, "go Potty Potter!".

James found himself in the middle of the other pair, who he assumed were fourth years by the size of them both and rolled back the sleeves of his robes determinedly. Hovering in mid-air to raise an eyebrow towards where Jack had risen into the air and was holding a Quaffle in hand and lazily chucking it up and down, "now, there's only one spot for a chaser on the team this year, so I want you all to play your best. You are going to work as a team, with myself and Mehrtens over there guarding you to try and get the Quaffle past Patil. Is that clear?".

All three nodded and James grinned as the captain promptly threw the Quaffle straight at Fisher's face, the boy fumbled to control it before frowning at the Captain as he retreated back to where the other Chaser was hovering on his broom boredly.

******

Lily Evans peered anxiously upwards as the tryouts for the chasers got even more intense, James was currently yelling at the top of his lungs for one of the fourth years he was trying out with to pass the quaffle. She winced as the fourth year in question was tackled ruthlessly by one of the current chasers, 'Mehrtens' and had the Quaffle snatched from him with ease.

At her side Remus was watching intently while Sirius roared up at James to quit acting modest and just snatch the damn Quaffle if he had to. She glanced towards Peter as he enthusiastically cheered when James stole the Quaffle back from Mehrtens and took off flying down the pitch, swerving around Jack just in time to beat the Keeper and score a magnificent goal that had both Remus and Sirius on their feet waving their arms and cheering madly.

She grinned and followed suit cheering loudly and yelped when she was all but tossed up into the air from a surprise attack from Sirius. "SIRIUS!" she yelped out as she landed awkwardly back in her seat and glared pointedly in his direction while he merely grinned and resumed his cheering for James.

James seemed to notice and grinned and waved down at them before swooping down towards the ground as they were called back down. They watched anxiously as the next set of Chasers were sent up to do their trials.

*****

Sirius watched quietly as the last of the try-outs came to a close and the shortest member of the try-out squad stood nervously in the crowded group who were awaiting the response from the Captain and the team-members. "Don't worry Siri, if alls fair then Jamie will get in. He was the best damn flier up there, and his quaffle handling wasn't to shabby either" Remus commented off-handedly as he lazed back in his chair, obviously alot less nervous then Sirius himself.

"Remy, Jamies wanted to get on the team since he could bloody walk. If he doesn't get in he'll be crushed" Sirius responded peering nervously towards the group in which his best friend stood. Lily raised an eyebrow at this, "it's only quidditch..." she murmured peering at Sirius curiously. "Not to Jamie it isn't" was the stout response as he watched the mingling group down on the Quidditch Pitch with trepadition.

By all means what Sirius was saying was true, and down at heart every single one of the Marauders knew it. Lily to some extent realised this too, which was the only reason why they were staring down at the Quidditch Pitch as though it were the judge about to sentence their friend to a Lifes term in Azkaban or let him get off scott-free.

They watched carefully as the Captain obviously began to speak, he was glancing around at the whole group, obviously trying to maintain eye-contact with the whole group when suddenly there was a giant whoop and they glimpsed their friend jumping at least a foot in the year. Sirius turned towards them with a broad grin, "guess it is all fair then Remy" he commented before diving on his friend in a tackle-hug.

The werewolf was abruptly thrown from his seat and by all appearances seemed to be choking as his eyes began to water and he made strange gurgling sounds. Peter sighed and hurriedly began an attempt to haul Sirius off as Lily watched in amusement, "c'mon Siri, you're choking him already" Peter grumbled and Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Sorry bout that Remy m'lad. Got abit carried away with Jamie'n'all."

Remus grumbled as he got back to his feet and cast a long look at Sirius, "of course Siri" he conceeded and gave a lop-sided grin. "We have to do some celebrating" Sirius immediately declared his eyes gleaming as his mind drifted, "how about we go and 'aquire' some supplies Remy. So we can.. surprise Jamie when he gets back to the tower". Remus nodded his head quickly and glanced towards Peter, "can you and Lils distract him when he comes back, tell him we got dragged off to detention or something?".

Peter nodded his head stoutly in acceptance of his mission and him and Lily followed the excitable pair of Marauders down to the bottom seats of the stadium. "See you soon" Sirius declared winking towards Peter before grabbing Remus by the arm and dragging him away out of the stadium and towards the castle.

"This is gonna be great Remy" he declared, looking positively starry-eyed as they pushed through the giant iron doors of the castle and hurried off towards the statue of the ugly old crone, which by Sirius' deduction would be most suitable as it came out right below Honeydukes itself and would make it a great deal faster.

Remus checked his pockets thoughtfully and beamed when he came across his moneybag and nodded towards Sirius' inquiry about whether he had any money on him. "Great" Sirius responded cheerfully as he all but bounced his way down the corridor tugging Remus along with him. "Jamie'll be so surprised" Sirius sighed aloud causing Remus to snicker quietly to himself.

"Are you laughing at me Lupin?" he spoke up with a narrowing frown, "of course not Siri. What is there to laugh about?" Remus replied much to innocently but Sirius seemed to let it slide, they raced along the corridors and up staircases before finally finding themselves standing quite cheerfully behind the ugly Old Crone and quickly sliding down into it's hump.

They hit the ground with a wet thud and hurriedly moved to get to their feet. Remus with a quiet mutter of 'Lumos' lit his wand before they hurried up the tunnel, careful not to trip over the many bumps and tree roots along the way. Sirius grinned widely as they reached the designated trapdoor and turned to grin at Remus, "let's go then shall we?".

******

Sirius Black carefully teetered back and forth as he carried packages upon packages of sweets and cartons of butterbeer, only several feet ahead Remus was loaded down with a far lighter load and was leading the way back towards Hogwarts humming madly as he agiley skipped over an exposed treeroot with a warning cry of "tree root Siri".

Sirius thankfully skipped over it and continued to wobble his way along the passageway as Remus checked his watch for the time. "They should already be back in the tower by now, hopefully Jamie believed Pete 'n Lils and thinks we're still in detention" Remus called over his shoulder and Sirius let back a grunt of reply as he balanced a package of chocolate frogs carefully on the very top.

"We're almost at the end of the passage Siri" he added cheerfully as his wand shone against the ladder rungs in the near distance. "Thank god" Sirius replied with a grunt, "how on earth are we supposed to get all of this up to the tower undetected?" he moaned aloud and blinked when Remus paused and turned on his heel to grin broadly back at the boy. "That's your department Siri" he declared brightly as he stuffed a carton of butterbeer under one arm and began to carefully climb up the ladder.

He reached the top and had to do a balancing act to slide the hatch of the old crones hump back and carefully lowered the butterbeer down onto the floor beside it. He turned promptly to point his wand carefully down at the mixture of packages he'd left at the bottom and with a whisper of 'Nox' the light at the end of his wand went out.

A second murmur of, 'Wingardium Leviosa' had packages floating casually up to meet him, he lazily directed them through the opening in the back before repeating the process on Sirius' parcels before hurriedly climbing out of the opening and allowing Sirius to climb it after them.

Once Sirius had landed in the somewhat squished corner the opening slid quickly shut and Sirius beamed at him as he carefully began to load the packages back into his arms. Remus this time took an equal half as he wouldn't have to sport his wand and the pair carefully snuck out from behind the statue and hurried off down the corridor in a mad laden-down dash for Gryffindor Tower.

Once the Fat Lady was in sight Sirius gave a triumphant whoop and declared an excited, "buzzbee". The portrait swung open and Sirius and Remus crawled carefully through, lugging their loads of packages along with them before staggering, with full arms towards the corner where they could make out a fiery head of red-hair.

Remus continued to hum cheerfully aloud as they swept past groups of students who sent curious glances in their direction, obviously wondering where exactly the two second years had gotten such a vast supply of Butterbeer and Honeydukes sweets. Peter glanced up and stared wide-eyed at them as they advanced grinning broadly, this caused James to turn his head and blink before his face spread with a grin.

Sweeping around the last table which separated them from the group Sirius and Remus both set down their armloads and grinned brightly. "It's celebration time Jamie" Sirius declared cheerfully as James all but tackled the other pair to the ground with a wild yell of, "I GOT IN!".

Peter beamed at the pair who casually took seats and began unstacking the packages upon packages of Honeydukes sweets and cartons of Butterbeer. Lily stared wide-eyed at the spread of food that the two had gotten from god-knows-where and stared curiously up at the pair who both had wide smiles in place and were congratulating James heartily, Sirius adding with a casual wink, "Madam Rosmerta sends her congratulations as well".

By now the table was grabbing quite some attention as some of the older students peered thoughtfully at the packages, all marked with the conspicuous 'Honeydukes' label and the cartons of Butterbeer. Sirius gave a cheerful salute before scrambling away as Remus sank into a chair blinking in curiosity in the direction that his friend had gone. 

James was suddenly prattling on about practise times and strategies as his eyes all but radiated happiness as they began to dig into the sweets and Remus casually chucked each of them a bottle of butterbeer. Lily stared curiously at the concoction before James broke off long enough to tell her, "it's brilliant stuff Lils, warms you right from the inside".

Lily took a tentative sip before smiling as the liquid did just as James had promised and happily began to drink it down. When Sirius reappeared grinning at Remus armed with the infamous guitar and sheets of music Remus gave a slight moan and glanced around to where James had spotted Sirius as well and was grinning at him cheerfully.

"Go on Remy!" he declared brightly and Sirius lazily deposited both guitar and music into Remus' lap without another thought. He slumped into the space between Peter and Remus cheerfully and grinned across at James. "I think Jamie's got the right to first request I think" he announced brightly and James raised an eyebrow at Sirius in response as Sirius flung the stack of papers at him which was quickly caught.

James began to sort through the paper as Remus muttered something about being a court jester before proceeding to tune his guitar, shooting several looks at the first years who had begun to migrate towards the Marauders with curiosity shining in their eyes. James thoughtfully glanced at his friend handing the papers to Lily who peered curiously through the titles, obviously in search of new ones since she'd last seen them and declared with a grin, "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Remus raised an eyebrow but shrugged slightly, lazily beginning to strum at his guitar as though to warm himself up before he began to sing, trying desperately to ignore the first years who were slowly edging closer to the group and the curious looks they were getting from the nearby groups of older students as Sirius hummed lazily along with the tune himself when Remus began to sing.

"Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever." James grinned slightly as he helped himself to some more butterbeer and casually broke a chocolate frog in half to keep it from hopping away on him. Sirius easily broke into song with Remus without a care in the world as the first years moved even closer towards the group staring curiously at the older students.

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, it doesn't matter much to me. Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever." Peter peered around at the lingering students, even their older peers looked mildly interested, even though they had already adjusted to the Marauders antics long ago. He plopped another levitating sherbet ball in his mouth and was mildly amused as he began to float several feet off of his seat.

"No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low. That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right, that is I think it's not too bad. Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields Forever." Sirius continued to sing along softly with his friend leaning over to sling an arm around Remus' shoulders and wink at the gathering spectators cheerfully before continuing.

"Always, no sometimes, think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream. I think I know I mean a 'Yes' but it's all wrong, that is I think I disagree. Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever. Strawberry Fields forever." As the song came to a close Remus set his guitar back into his lap and reached forward to grab his butterbeer from the table taking a deep swig and giving a lopsided smile around at his friends.

"Lils, I believe it's your turn to request a song" Sirius spoke up cheerfully indicating the papers that rested in her laps from where she'd relaxed into the couch to drink her butterbeer. She began to giggle to herself off-handedly as though a thought had just occured to her before she lifted her head to grin at the pair, casting a slight glance towards James before declaring, "Great balls of fire".

Sirius looked positively gleeful at this as Remus allowed his guitar to remain resting in his lap and glanced casually towards his friend. Sirius automatically took up cue when Remus nodded his head casually, this was of course, Sirius' song. "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, Too much love drives a man insane ,You broke my will, but what a thrill, Goodness gracious great balls of fire".

The first years around them peered curiously at them as Remus began to laugh to himself at the faint hint of disgust on James' face and the smile that was growing on Lily's lips, Peter it seemed thought that this was quite as amusing as Remus did, and the pairs laughter rose up through Sirius' song as the surrounding groups eyed them as though they were indeed crazy.

******

Lily Evans stared numbly down at the Transfiguration Essay which rested ominously on the table infront of her, sighing to herself as she glanced gloomily towards the nearest flickering candle. The Library was dull and gloomy on days like these, Saturday to be precise. And of all places she found herself doing homework inside the dark place.

"Sad" she muttered to herself with a shake of her head. "You're sad Lily Evans, you're doing homework on Saturday morning..". With a shake of her head she peered down at the sheet of paper infront of her with a sigh. In reality she knew that she was hiding down here, rather then staying up in the common room and facing Sally-the-stuck-up-snob-Mcgregor she had seeked refuge in of all places, the Library.

She hadn't glimpsed the Marauders at all that morning, which was a pretty obvious point as to why she was here in the Library. If she had seen hide or hair of them she'd probably be mixed up in some hair-brained scheme to play games outside, where rain was at present pounding down mercilessly and end up being soaking wet.

Twirling her quill absently in her fingers she gave a sigh, she knew of course that Sally was for the most part just a stuck-up-cow, but the thing was that she had thought the others might have been her friends. Veronica, she knew was only going along with Sally because she was jealous of Lily's friendship with the Marauders, Alexia however was a different story. She had thought that Alexia wouldn't've just gone along with Sally as she had been.

Jamie however had played no part in the whole thing, her and Jamie still got along quite well, though she knew that Jamie didn't particuarly like the Marauders very much. The whole situation made Lily wish that she had been sorted into Ravenclaw like the hat had first intended to do.

Glancing back down at her for the most part blank piece of parchment she pulled a face and reached for the book she had chosen to take notes from. "If it isn't the infamous Mud-blood" came a sneer from behind her which caused her to jump visibly and hurriedly whip her head around. 

About two metres away the usual gang of Slytherins were standing, amused smirks imprinted on their unpleasant faces. Lily unconsciously gripped her wand and turned to glare at them, "what do you want?" she snapped out at them and recieved several snickers from the group. "From you Mud-blood? Absolutely nothing" came the drawl from the designated leader, Lucius Malfoy smirked off-handedly at her and lazily glanced around at the rest of the group.

"We just needed someone to test out a few new hexes on and apparently we've got a volunteer". "I didn't volunteer for anything" she snapped back rising to her feet and tugging at the hem of her skirt with a frown as she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes sharply. 

"She even dresses like a muggle" came a brief mutter from the back of the group and she found herself glaring sharply in that direction. "Sod off Malfoy, you and your friends can just get lost" she snapped out and began to stuff her parchment and quills back into her backpack, her hand still clutched firmly around her wand.

"I don't really feel like it Evans, you see. We see it as our duty to rid Hogwarts of Muggle Filth like you" Malfoy continued airily, his eyes resting sharply on her as she tossed her hair and glared angrily at the lot of them. "Go to hell Malfoy" she snapped back in response and swung her backpack onto her back and yelled out in surprise when with a deft 'Expelliarmus' her wand went flying from her grasp.

"Why in such a hurry Evans? You're always rushing off somewhere" she heard from who she was sure was Adam Lestrange. "Sod off" she snapped in response moving towards her wand before stopping abruptly when they stepped easily in her way. She barely even registered the gasps of surprise from the Slytherins as a series of 'Expelliarmus' came from somewhere behind her. 

She blinked in surprise at the hand that rested casually on her shoulder and glanced towards James with a surprised stare, "you alright there Lily?" he asked casually, never removing his eyes from the group of Slytherins as Remus and Sirius, each having caught at least three wands each cheerfully nodded their heads towards her as Peter boldly shoved Lestrange out of his way and snatched Lily's wand up from the ground.

"Thought we'd come and find you." James added frowning at the group of Slytherins who were now glaring violently at both Sirius and Remus who were lazily chucking their wands onto the tops of the bookshelves with little regard for the angry stares that they were recieving. Once they were done the Marauders gave the group of Slytherins a few cheerful waves before steering Lily out of the library.

*****

A/n.. the second: Heh I did get quite abit of that chapter to comply to several of my reviewers wishes, more Lily.. not quite anymore Banana though. James n' Lily are growing closer and James got into the Quidditch Team. ^___^ Siri n Remy are jus so adorable! This chapter was more cute then anything else again, but hey ^________^ everyone needs some cuteness sometimes! It brings even more fun into life. Reviewers can have some MnMnM's an more Coke! - Cathy-Bloom decided she needed to keep some skittles for herself! Arigatou! Til next chapter, Ja Ne!  
P.S: I did get Strawberry Fields Forever in there for I give it all to Mr. Black - Eeee I love your name! -proceeds to go all sparkly shoujo-eyed again and swoon-.


	27. Full Moons and Kilts

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Six: Of Kilts and Fullmoons.

A/n: 

Eeeeeee ^___^;; ARIGATOU! Once again for all the Kawaii reviewers! Aah Reviewers make me laugh ^___^;; Bweeeeeee!

Slice-sama! You crack me up! Bweeeee. You're an inspiration ^____^;; MmMmMmm Malik-shaped Cake *___*;;. Bwee SO many Bishies so LITTLE time. Aaah YGO bishies have the prettiest eyes ^__^ Seto an Otogi especially, but Ryou an Malik are just so damn Kawaii ^______________________________^;;. Er... heh. -Sigh- I'm rather pathetic really, so many damn bishies and I'm infatuated with all of em! -begins to count them off on her fingers- Otogi-kun, Seto-sama, Ryou-chan, Yami-Bakura-kun ^___^, Malik-kun, Yami-Malik-sama, Kurama-san, Hiei-sama, Nuriko-chan, Tasuki-chan, Hotohori-sama (WAI!), Chichiri-sama ^______^, Nakago-sama, Yue-sama, Sagou-kun, Duo-chan, Quatre-chan, Heeeeeeerrrrrooooooo-chan XD -is smacked over the head by her EVIL muse-. Eheh.. Gomen! ^____^;; Siri-chan and Remy-chan WAI! So...Kawaii...Must..Stay..Strong. May the Skittles guide you ^___^;; 

I give it all to Mr. Black -turns sparkly shoujo-eyed yet again- Still love the name! Weeee -giggles maniacally- No prob! Song suggestions never go amiss, always lotsa fun to add in!

Tori-sama! You're officially awesome! O_O;; -clutches said 'lots and lots of chocolate' possessively and hisses and glares with OTOGI-eyes at anyone who comes near- Mine I tell you! All mine! Er.. Mebbeh my EVIL muse is rubbing off on me.. Or it may be that security guard -perks an eyebrow in Yami Bakura's direction-. GOMEN! I can't do Slash until third year -sniffles pathetically- Why-why-why-why-why are you people so meaaaaannn to me! I want slash now damnit! Must be strong, must be nice to reviewers.. -twitches-.

Halley-sama! Eeeee Siri-chan and Remy-chan are so gorgeously kawaii it's insane! I love them to pieces -squeals and is held back by Yami Bakura from inserting herself into story to glomp them to pieces-

Faries... What'd I tell ya last time girl! Caaaaaallllllllllllmmmmmmm doooooowwwwwnnnnn. -twitches and hides behind Yami Bakura and shoves her EVIL muse forwards- Tomo'll tell you when the next Quidditch match is coming up, wontcha Evil Muse of mine. ^__^ -prods Tomo- -.-(). Er.. Mebbe he won't but It's coming soon!

Kylie.. You remembered about the MnMnM's . Damnit! My plot has been foiled. -reluctantly pours MnMnM's into Kylie's hands- I know that most 9-13 yr olds are probably goin on dates/gettin' it on/got girlfriends/boyfriends but I want Remy/Siri Jamie/Lils to be serious about it! An when your 13 etc. you really aren't mature enough to have a serious 'relationship'. The Pranks and Songs are my favourite bits.. ^_____^;; Fun fun fun! Heh you just wait til Remy actually realises that he missed his tutoring session! Uh oh Poor Remy-chan @__@;; Heh lots of Quidditch-mad-Potter-antics will ensue! Plus I can't tell you how this'll follow the storyline! That would be BLASPHEMY! -Cathy-Bloom's EVIL muse begins cackling in the background- Er... You can bet that Siri's gonna just get crazier and crazier! Plot? -blinks stupidly- What is plot... there is no plot! This is madness in it's purest form! Nah, actually it's jus going to be the Marauders Years at Hogwarts, I think everybody makes a big deal out of the fact that each Harry Potter book has an exciting even which happens, but me thinks that Hogwarts had to have been at least a little bit normal at some point. There'll be a little bit of darker stuff creeping in as Voldie gets stronger and starts getting a little more Avada Kedavra-happy but that isn't really the point now is it! I shouldn't be telling you this! You heard nothing.. I was never here... Spread word of this to no-one -shifty eyes-.

The Silver Lady: Heh my entire family thinks i'm insane for laughing at absolutely nothing... Although I suppose that's different 'cause I actually do laugh at absolutely nothing @_@;; 2 am in the morning? I swear on Yami Bakura's leather pants and Otogi-kun's pretty pretty eyes that I will defeat you! Mwahahaha! -coughs- Er.. Mebbe not.

Onyx and S... Noooooo! I mean o.o;; Dood, my voting poll is out of whack now! Everybody votes once I closed it -sigh- Banana's bit the dust and Moore's doin a victory jig on the staff table.. -giggles- Yeah! Now I just gotta get him in a Kilt.

Now without further adue, with many thanks to the reviewers that I've failed to mention through the rudeness plainly known as Yami-Bakura.. -sniggers- I shall continue forth on an adventure of gigantuan proportions. An Adventure of Brave Gryffindors and Sifty Slytherins.. of Random Ravenclaw Head of Houses and Owls named after Fruits.. Of Siri and Remy.. and lest we forget Jamie and Pete.. and Most importantly... An Adventure of a Power-crazy Cathy-Bloom and her plans of World (and Bishie) Domination. - Er I meant Marauders ^___^;; That's right .... Marauders .;;

******

The second year Gryffindor boys dormitory was extremely still on this particular occasion. In fact, if it weren't for the discrete whisperings of three of the occupants, one would think that it were completely deserted, or as was the case on this particular night, that the occupants were sleeping.

As it was James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were gathered around, hidden behind the thick scarlet hangings of James Potter's bed and looking if anything rather subdued. "What do you think happens.. You know, when he leaves?" Sirius whispered aloud, his eyes trailing towards the tiny sliver of moonlight that had crept in through the gap in James' hangings.

The eery full moon was resting high in the sky, it's surreal silver light bathing the lands surrounding it in a pale delicate glow. James shrugged uncomfortably, his eyes turning towards Peter who also seemed to be squirming slightly at the mention of the possible horrendous activities that could take place before the fourth member of the groups transformations.

"It's not fair" Sirius spoke up stubbornly when neither of them supplied in answer. "Remy works twice as hard as all of us, you know how he is when he gets back from whereever it is he goes. He always looks so sick and pale.. and he's always hurt. But that cow Mcgonagall won't even cut him a break! I mean she set Wilkes of all people as his tutor!".

James nodded his head slightly, an abstract moonbeam catching the lenses of his glasses as he bobbed his head. "We know Siri. But Mcgonagall obviously thinks that it will help him" at this James wrinkled his nose as though he severely doubted that any such outcome could come out of such a proposition. "But all he needs when he gets back from his transformation is a slimy Slytherin breathing down his neck telling him how rubbish he is at Transfiguration!" Sirius protested with a determined scowl as he set his head aside and frowned for all he was worth at the hangings.

"I wish we could do something you know. Even if it was just to help him while he was transformed.. So.. He doesn't hurt himself" he murmured aloud finally after several awkward moments of silence and Peter sitting solemnly, staring down at his crossed legs and letting out a soft sigh. "I don't know Siri. Werewolves are dangerous.." he murmured softly and toyed with the legs of his pyjama pants quietly.

"Not to their packmates they're not" Sirius spoke up stubbornly. James nodded his head in silent contemplation, "I heard that werewolves only attack humans.." he murmured lifting his eyes to meet Sirius' as something began to turn inside the sharp mind of one James Potter. Sirius seemed to be thinking along the same lines of James and gave a feeble laugh, "we'd be mad to try it.." he murmured nervously and James grinned, his face also containing a hint of that scared expression.

"We're mad already Siri" he replied his fingers toying with the frames of his glasses as he gave a nervous shake. "We.. We could be expelled if anyone found out" Sirius whispered again, casting fervent glances around himself and barely registering the dumb-founded expression on Peter's face as he stared in confusion between the two.

"Nobody has to know Siri" James responded weakly, although he seemed to be gathering more confidence as he spoke. "It's illegal you know" Sirius whispered softly aloud. "Not just breaking school rules... We'd probably get in trouble with the ministry..". James' eyes were by now wide and almost feverishly bright, the doubt in Sirius' words however didn't seem to be reflected upon his face as his eyes began to shine and his mouth began to spread into a brighter smile.

"If it really could help him though.." Sirius whispered aloud dreamily as Peters stare moved slowly in realisation between the pair. "Y-you guys are nuts! Y-you better not be saying.. What I think you are.. If you mean.. You can't.. You couldn't be that stupid." he began to laugh aloud, a nervous high pitched sort of laugh that wasn't very becoming on people a great deal handsomer then Peter Pettigrew. "You are!" he hissed in realisation his eyes widening.

"B-but! Mcgonagall said that it's advanced Transfiguration! She said that it's illegal unless you have proper supervision.." his eyes shifted between the pair nervously as their eyes gleamed with that famous stare that had convinced him into many a prank throughout their short time at Hogwarts.

"Y-you're really serious" he whispered aloud as they turned their eyes firmly upon him. "Well Pete, are you in?" James spoke up solemnly, staring long and hard that the smallest Marauder. Peter stared dumbstruck between the pair as Sirius spoke up, "Pete. This could be our chance to really help Remy, you know not just go and visit him while he's hurt in the Hospital Wing. I mean to really help him".

"I- I" Peter began before he sighed as something struck inside of him. This was Remus they were talking about, Remus who always stuck up for him when the Slytherins were picking on him. And Sirius and James, this was his chance to become their equal at something. Finally, after minutes of thought he slowly nodded his head and Sirius and James turned ectastic grins upon each other before seizing the smallest Marauder in a gigantic bear hug.

"Pete, we won't regret this" Sirius exclaimed grinning broadly and James nodded his head enthusiastically. "No way. We can't fail guys. This is for Remy".

******

Remus Lupin was exhausted. Not just the type of exhaustion that most humans would claim when deprived of a nights sleep or after a day of hard work, no Remus Lupin was more then exhausted. He was practically dead on his feet. For three torturous nights in a row he had gone through living hell on earth and today, lying weakly in a bed in the hospital wing, surrounded by curtains he felt as though he'd been thrown off of Gryffindor Tower and landed on the flagged stone courtyard below.

Every single muscle in his exhausted body was bruised and stretched, this of course was a natural happening after a transformation, as was the aching in his entire vertebrae. But it seemed, that during his transformation this time the wolf had been angry. Angry at being locked up, angry at being unable to hunt and angry at being unable to run free.

So the wolf had taken it out on him. Unable to bite others it had bit and scratched itself, this was ever so painfully reminded by the large wound that had been inflicted onto his left leg, the vicious attack on his hips and the scratches that ran right along the length of his right arm.

By all means Remus Lupin was utterly and completely miserable. He knew that these wounds would slowly begin to heal by tommorrow, as his immune system began to build up again and he would heal at rapid speed. But up until his immune system once again began to kick in, he would continue to lie utterly and compeletely miserable in the dreaded Hospital Wing Bed.

A soft groan escaped his lips as he tried to move in an attempt to get comfortable. His eyelids were drooping heavily but he couldn't seem to find a comfortable position that would allow him to drift off to sleep. Grumbling audibly he bit his lip as a sharp pain shot up his left leg, a reminder that it was not a good idea to be moving it.

This was definitely not one of his better transformations. 

He groaned again as he heard the hospital wing door swing open, the tell tale squeak of hinges signifying someones entry before the click of it shutting sounded. He winced visibly as he attempted to slide back onto his back and recieved in jarring his leg again and letting out a hiss of pain. Finally he achieved his goal and attempted to peer around in an attempt to see who had come in the door.

When the curtains parted his heart began to beat wildly, if it was anyone other then the three other Marauders then he'd have a hell of alot of explaining to do. His heartbeat however settled as Peter quickly entered with a small smile on his face and Sirius and James looking rather pleased about something followed him in. Peter it seemed was the bearer of gifts as he extended a chocolate frog to him upon arrival.

"Here Remy, I bought you a chocolate frog" he exclaimed cheerfully and Remus smiled slowly, "thanks Pete" he yawned back. He went to lift his arm but apparently decided against it and merely grimaced and gestured towards the bed-side cabinet. Peter blinked and complied before dragging up one of the garden-chair like plastic chairs and taking a seat.

James and Sirius, apparently rather distracted followed in an almost zombie like state. "How ya feelin' Remy?" James spoke up cautiously peering at Remus' face. He was pale and tired-looking and the weak smile he gave in response did nothing to reassure them that he was anything but. "Like crap actually" he spoke up bluntly and they all blinked at him, "and you?".

"Er.." Peter spoke up cautiously, obviously confused by the sudden bluntness his friend had taken to. "Don't worry Pete, I'm not about to bite your head off" Remus muttered in response to strange look he recieved. "Bad transformation then I take it?" Sirius spoke up warily and merely recieved a nod in response. 

"Er Remy, Madam Pomfrey must've spilled something on your sheets" Peter observed suddenly and pointing vaguely to a fresh looking stain in the white-linen. "Oh bloody hell" Remus muttered aloud as he glanced down to find the disturbing reddening stain begin to spread. "Can you get Madam Pomfrey?" he spoke up grimacing as he felt a sticky trickle run down the back of his calves and drip down onto the bed.

Peter stood up blinking and hurriedly left to go find Madam Pomfrey, "won't be a minute" he murmured aloud as Sirius and James stared none-to-obviously at the growing red-stain in the blankets. "Is that- ?" James began and Remus cut him off with a curt nod as Sirius continued to stare in some sort of trance in the direction as Madam Pomfrey swept inside with the clicking of heels and a harsh, "out you lot. You can come back later".

The three other Marauders gave weak nervous sort of glances towards Remus before complying with promises to return later as Madam Pomfrey whipped the blankets away and set about rebandaging the wound on his leg. Remus watched them leave quietly as he bit his lip in an attempt to keep from crying out.

Sirius stole one last glance at his friends face before he followed James and Peter out of the Hospital Wing, his face darkening by the moment as they walked the hallways absently on this dreary saturday morning. They walked for quite some time before any of them dared to speak.

Sirius' face was deadly serious as they paused outside of the library his eyes narrowing sharply with conviction, "we definitely have to help him" he growled out aloud finally. James nodded his head sharply in fierce agreement which Peter soon mirrored. "C'mon, let's go see if we can find any books about it then".

*****

Remus Lupin grimaced visibly as he carefully limped his way towards Gryffindor Tower. His leg was giving him hell at present and the blinding pain in his right arm was enough to make him growl every time the sleeve of his robes so much as brushed against the bandaging. He winced as he carefully made his way up at least the tenth staircase he'd met on his paths and his leg began to throb again. 

It was Sunday afternoon, which gave him enough time to try and catch up on some of the work he'd missed before resting some more in an attempt to make himself presentable for classes the following morning. This was definitely Remus Lupin's hell. Grunting he clenched his teeth as a seething mass of white hot pain surged through his leg, hissing with pain he paused briefly to lean against the nearest wall and take several deep breaths.

When finally he felt he was up to walking again he carefully resumed his pathway, this time however it didn't appear quite so empty as he would have liked. "Well well, if it isn't the Mudblood loving Lupin? You aren't looking so hot today are you?" came a distinct irritating drawl which made Remus uncertain as to whether he should scream his frustration or laugh at the irony of the situation.

As always it was none other then one Lucius Malfoy, flanked as always by a handful of his faithful Slytherin cronies, amongst which was the one person that Remus wished sorely he didn't have to cross paths with ever again for the rest of his life. "Sod off Malfoy, I'm not in the mood to play games" Remus retorted sharply as he tried to subdue the limp that was ever so evident as he strode forwards.

"The thing is Lupin that you don't have a choice in the matter." Malfoy spoke up with a casual raise of his eyebrow as Remus winced visibly and gave a patented glare in their direction. "I'll only say it one more time Malfoy, sod off" he shot back sharply, half-leaning against the wall as another pain shot up his leg.

"Please Lupin? Do you really expect us to be scared of you? Especially when you look like you've just crawled out of your own grave" was the sneer that came back, this time from Avery who had stepped forwards to come into line with Malfoy and was smirking slightly at the werewolf.

Remus winced as once again another flash of pain rose through his leg and barely kept from letting out another hiss of pain as it near buckled under him. He was already in a foul temper thanks to a certain splitting headache that had withheld a great deal of sleep from him the previous night, that was until Madam Pomfrey finally strode out with a dreamless sleep potion in hand and forced it down his throat.

"I'm warning you, get the hell out my way" he snarled in frustration. His short temper only fuelled by the lack of sleep and extreme amount of pain that he was currently presented with. "Why don't you make us Lupin?" Avery spoke up again and Remus took an ungainly step forwards, his injured leg wobbling as he carefully placed it down.

"You see Lupin" Avery continued, obviously rather enjoying his chance to be in the spotlight for once. "We've decided that you've been quite unfair to our good friend here" he casually clapped Rosier on the back to emphasize just who he was talking about and his eyes sharpened even more so. "So we've decided that it's come down to drastic measures".

His smirk was all too menacing as he leaned forwards casually as though to tell Remus a secret, "we've decided that it's time we helped our good friend Rosier out. Although I do say his tastes have much to be required, a Mud-blood loving Gryffindor. But beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Let me just say this though Lupin, we're going to be on your tail every single second of the day".

"Sod. Off" Remus hissed back, his eyes flashing menacingly as he rummaged through his robes, just hoping that he had forgotten to remove his wand from them before he had left for the hospital wing. "But you see Lupin, we don't really care to" Malfoy spoke up again his smile was taunting and filled with obvious amusement.

"Well now Muppets. What do we have here?".

Remus didn't know whether to cry with relief or run for the hills screaming his lungs out, for in all of his glory Professor Moore was now strolling towards them a suspicious gleam in his shrewd eyes as he whistled an oddly familiar tune. Perhaps the strangest thing about his sudden appearance was the fact that he was dressed most oddly in a tartan scottish kilt.

Remus glanced weakly over his shoulder and blinked several times at the incoming Professor who raised an eyebrow at the group of Slytherins tauntingly. "Well then wingnuts, I believe this is the part where you lot run away crying to your big-bad head of house about how Professor Moore was mean to you. Or is that just something you do Malfoy?".

Remus would have laughed at the expression on Malfoy's face had he not been so worked up, his hands were quivering with surpressed rage and the Slytherins seemed traumatised by the sudden arrival of the decidedly insane Professor. "Bloody hell. What does it take to get through to you bunch of noddys. Get lost before I decide to have a tempoary lapse of sanity and start hexing you".

At this the Slytherins took off down the hall to the delighted laughter of the Defense Teacher who promptly began a rather strange looking jig while humming the much to familiar song aloud. Upon realising that Remus was still there he cracked an eye open and perked an eyebrow, "well what is it Lupin?" he sighed exasperatedly.

"You are looking decidedly clammy today" he commented airily. "Ever heard of a thing called sunlight, it supposedly does wonders for your skin Lupin". Remus blinked at the sudden onslaught of insults and winced as he pushed off of the wall, "I'm well aquainted with sunlight thankyou Professor" he grunted back as he began to limp in the direction he had intended going. "Though you might wish to expose your legs to the light of day once in a while, it's a wonder you haven't permanently blinded anybody".

Professor Moore seemed quite perplexed by the sudden response and casually swaggered after him. "It's obviously someones time of the month" he acknowledged as the werewolf grimaced distractedly, "well a full moon does tend to have that effect on me now doesn't it?" he replied with a hint of sarcasm.

Expecting the usual sarcastic come-back Remus blinked when he found the Professor lazily slipping an arm under his shoulder to help support him. "Now now Lupin, don't go getting any ideas. Old Moore is not going soft in any way, call it a tempoary lapse of sanity on my part. You breathe a word of this to Noddy, Big-ears and Wingnut and I'll make sure the pain you are feeling right now is quite pale in comparison. Got it?".

Remus gave a dazed nod in response and could do scarse more then blink as evil incarnate helped him down the corridors.

******

A/n: Bwahahahaha! OMG I did get Moore into a kilt.. Shall be explained next chapter I suppose -ponders thoughtfully- Hmmm, so Satan really does have a heart I suppose. Don't worry, normal INSANE Professor Moore isn't going to become some good-hearted goody two shoe sap who grows flowers and hugs trees and spreads love and harmony, Nuh-uh! Only a 'tempoary lapse of sanity'. ^_____^;;  
Ja Ne Minna!  
Cathy-Bloom.

P.S: Gummi bears for Reviewers! Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.


	28. Let Me Give You a Few Tips

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Seven: Let me give you a few tips...

A/n: Bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Chewy Caramel Tim Tams are officially in my top ten list of foods now ^_____^;; So good! So caramelly/chocolatey/chewy! -drools- Aaah. Everyone loves Moore ^_~ Just as I planned it -sniggers maniacally- Now my plans for world domination are coming within my grasps.. Er I mean. My plans to update the next chappy of this fic of course ^_____^;; Nooo nothing to do with world domination I promise! Today my good friends, I have decided that my long pointless A/N is going to have now Paragraph spacing! Weeee how exciting XD. Nah just jokes. I wouldn't do that to yous...again.

Aaah so glad that you enjoyed the kilt. ^_____^;; The story behind that will be revealed within the opening of the curtain... But thats not quite yet. That is unless you're a smart bastard and skip all of this BS and get right onto the story. But if you do so then you do not get the insight and intellect that only Cathy-Bloom can give you. Kylie.. One word for you honey, er make that three words. Are You Mad. GUMMI BEARS! -insert girlish squeal- Almost as good as OTOGI-KUN! o.o;; Im obsessed with Otogi at present as you've probably gathered. -.-;; But as for the 'evil dude taking over the world' -gives shifty eyes- I can't write about it! That would reveal my plans! .;; Then you would be able to foil my master plan for world domination. As for the Animagus thing, well I'm pretty much gonna stick to the books and say fifth year. Soo I'm gonna try and stay with the books as much as I can without completely changing Siri's backround.

-Sniggers to herself maniacally- The Mouse of Anon.. Yes you've fallen prey to my snare.. The eagle swoops to obtain it's prey in it's mighty talons.. -sniggers uncontrollably- Gomen! That may not make much sense to you so I will explain it for the sheer fact that AN's are fun ^_^;;. You see, recently my english class has been doing speeches -insert Jamesy-boy going 'dun dun dun DUN!' here- and we have this hilarious dood in our class. Well we were watching this one guys speech and inevitably theres always one person who sounds like those annoying voices that do the animal documentarys. So the 'hilarious dood' immitated him while he was talkin an was like, 'the eagle swoops to obtain his prey in it's mighty, mighty talons'. Me 'n Karlalalala laughed our asses off. Twas funny. Truly was. Er.. where was I again?

Well anyways, Yes I am evil. So is my muse -points to Tomo- We take donations ^_____^;;.

Romm, I've said this once to you hun. Moore and Aunt Penny.. Disturbing. Though it would be quite amusing to see them Double Team the Marauders XD.. Reminds me of wrestling woo TAG TEAM! XD 

Faries, Once again. You still scare me. -hides behind Yami Bakura- But you're calm! That's good. No mad rampages, mad rampagings bad unless you bring fire. Fire is pretty. Fire burns. If you offer fire and shiny objects Cathy-Bloom will gladly join your Mad Rampage of FF.Net ^___^

Halley... Somehow with every review I get more and more amused. Capitals intimidate me -sniffles- No all caps! Down with all caps! :;;

My New Recruit... Carolinus Took : Obsessed with anything Scottish.... Riiiiiiiigggggghhhhhht . Though I can't really talk, I'm obsessed wiff Otogi-kun.. well bishies in general really. AND SKITTLES! o.o;; -tosses out some gummi-bears- good girl. I think Chapter Ten was my favourite over-all as well. And revealing what I was smoking may not be a good idea unless you live in Switzerland ^.~.. Or Jamaica XD

Rena Lupin/ Tori/ I give it all to Mr Black -once again goes shoujo eyed and SWOONS- : B'cuz this a/n is becoming huge I'm gonna do a three in one! WooOo. Professor Moore... Remus' uncle? NEVAH! XD Nah.. the way I see him is as one of those teachers who pretend to be bad-azz but do actually care about their students. Scary I know -.-;; ^__^;; Dun worry... I do adore Prof Moore in a kilt as much as the next person XD Hopefully the wait for slash will pass by quickly if I add lots of insanity into my chapters ^_^;; shouldn't be too hard ne? I give it all to Mr. Black -swoons again- God I just love typing your name! XD nooo I'm not strange o.O;; Thankyou! Professor Moore is my favourite OC that I have created. But my heart belongs to Yuki. o.O;; er.. we won't go there ^_^; OMG This a/n is huuuuuuuuuge! Gomen! I'm gonna get onto the story now! Heh... just remember children, FEAR THE CHEESE EATING SURRENDER MONKEHS!

******

Remus sighed with relief as the Fat Lady came into view, Professor Moore seemed to be quite subdued right up until Remus spoke the password. Almost immediately he began to laugh maniacally and rose his hands in victory over his head, "take that Lupin!" he roared magnificently as he began to do a victory jig in the middle of the hall.

Remus stared in confusion at the insane Professor who was doing a jig, in a kilt no less. "I have discovered the Gryffindor Password and the location of the Gryffindor Tower!" He roared to the cielings and Remus gave out a groan of disbelief, "be on your toes Lupin" the professor declared gleefully before all but skipping away down the halls, his maniacal laughter echoing back up the hall to him.

"And here I was thinking that he actually wanted to help me" Remus muttered ruefully rubbing at his forehead with a sigh, "why on earth was he wearing a kilt anyway..." shaking his head he began to carefully crawl through the portrait hall. With a small amount of muttering and a lot of limping he managed to make his way through the common room and up into the second year boys dormitories where he promptly sunk down onto his bed.

Lying back he let out the hiss of pain that had been threatening to escape for quite some time and simply lay back, staring up at the canopy which hung over his bed. Not trusting his arm enough to try at playing his guitar he let out a soft barely audible sigh and fell to contemplating Malfoy's and Avery's words from that afternoon.

*****

Wednesday Morning brought a considerably more happy Remus Lupin. His leg was well on it's way to healing and only a slight limp still bothered him. His arm it appeared had recovered at a much faster pace and seemed to be working order. So in considerably high spirits the Marauders were to be found in the middle of what was looking to become a very trying Herbology lesson.

Remus glared pointedly at the venomous tantacula that he and Sirius had double-teamed, Sirius was currently struggling with the plant in an attempt to get it into it's new, much larger pot. "A little help here Remy?" he wailed as it's long spindly vines began to creep out towards his neck.

Remus lazily slapped the vines away and grabbed the plant from the opposite side, trying to force it down into the pot that it so desperately didn't want to go into. Peter and James were snickering heartily from their own table, Peter seemed to have a strange talent for particuarly vicious plants and James had the foresight to call shotgun as partners with the smallest Marauders when it came to Herbology.

"C'mon guys. A little help here!" Sirius complained as the plant wrapped a vine around his head in an attempt to blindfold him. "Remy! It's trying to silence me.. You shall not silence what I am you dastardly villanous fiend! For I am Justice!". Sirius began to struggle with the plant who really did seem quite intent on gagging the outlandish boy who's arms were waving wildly through the air as the plant succeeded in blindfolding him.

Remus sighed and swatted a vine away from his own arms before ducking through the waving vines in an attempt to help Sirius out while James and Peter snickered to their hearts content at their two friends predicament. As he began to try and unwind the plants waving vines from around Sirius' eyes he yelped when it darted forwards and successfully bound his hands.

"Er.. Siri. Don't take this personally but I don't think I can help you" he supplied weakly as James and Peter burst into howls of laughter. "But Remy! The plant is trying to silence the voice. I am justice! Avenge me Remy! Avenge me!". Remus winced as the neighbouring tables, none of which seemed to be having any trouble with their particular plants glanced curiously at the pair. "Siri, I would avenge you if I could. But it appears that the plant has tied my wrists together".

Sirius grumbled audibly, "well somebody better bloody avenge me". "Er.. Siri... Not to alarm you or anything but the plant seems to be trying to tie us back to back". Sirius, he was sure had he been able to see his eyes would have blinked at this. "So THATS what it's trying to do then. I thought it was just trying to cop a feel of my manly body" he said overly loudly causing several of the nearby Ravenclaws to burst into fits of laughter along with James and Peter who didn't look all that motivated to go and help out their friends.

Remus gave an audible sigh as his back hit another solid object and the vines began to tighten. "Siri, as amusing as this might be to you, you do realise that we have been defeated by a plant don't you?". Sirius he was sure would have face-faulted at this statement and managed to get out a rather muffled-sounding, "by joe! You're right Remy!".

Remus could only assume that the plants attempts to muffle Sirius were becoming successful as all he heard now from his friend was some mumbles that he couldn't decipher. "How degrading" Remus sighed aloud as the plant, now obviously feeling rather triumphant after it's successful capture of it's tormentors began to wind it's vines around Remus' eyes.

"Will someone stop laughing and bloody help us already!" he finally called out as his sight was completely blinded by the blindfold of vines that obscured it. "I might not be able to see you but I can hear you! And I know where you all live and where you sit in the Great Hall! I won't hesitate in hexing your breakfast!" he continued to rant and heard a muffled roar of agreement from Sirius.

"Pete! Jim! You better get off your bloody asses and help us! Yes I can hear you Pete! You can't hide, I know a really good itching charm to put in your sheets". He heard a grumble and smirked smugly when footsteps approached them. "Yeah you better help" he muttered and heard a distinct muffled response from Sirius that he was quite sure would have been, "damn right".

When nothing seemed to happen for a very long time Remus frowned. "Well.. aren't you going to help us?" he spoke up rather uncertainly, he heard vague snickering from somewhere in the green house and furrowed his eyebrows. "This isn't funny! C'mon! This plant could try and eat us or something" he spoke up again, feeling rather confused by the lack of noise.

"Er.. Siri?" he asked weakly and heard a muffled response. "Is it just me or did it go very quiet in here all of a sudden?". He heard another muffled sound that he distinguished as a confirmation. "Just great" he muttered with a sigh. "I'm going to hex every single one of you!" he yelled out as loudly as he could before he felt a vine slithering across his face. "This isn't funny! It's going to eat us!" the werewolf wailed desperately as the vine proceeded to gag him.

He gave a loud indignant humph and recieved a mumble that sounded rather condoling from Sirius, with a sigh Remus slumped down to the ground dragging Sirius down with him. When Sirius gave several mumbles Remus found that he could understand them almost perfectly now and he definitely agreed. James and Peter were dead, or in the words of Professor Moore, their asses were grass and Sirius and Remus were now the lawnmowers.

******

James Potter was still snickering to himself at dinner time, across from him to surly looking Marauders were currently giving James and Peter what they had dubbed, 'the big ignore'. In other words, James and Peter were recieving the silent treatment, at least until the other pair had come up with a punishment that they felt fitting for the horrendous crime that had been committed against them.

By now word had spread of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black's unfortunate tangle with a certain Venomous Tantacula in Greenhouse Number Three, and by all means the gossip was spreading like wildfire through the different houses about just what the two would do to get back at the classmates who had left them there. By all means the Ravenclaw Second Years were looking rather suspicious and a great deal of the school noted that they were keeping a close eye on every forkful of food that they ate.

Remus and Sirius were actually succeeding quite well in their so dubbed task of 'the big ignore' and were currently holding a very loud and very provocative debate about the subject that they knew would cause James the most agony to listen to and not have his say heard, yes, they were talking about the Quidditch Cup.

"Personally Siri, I think the entire game depends soley on the quality of the Keeper of the team. For instance, Hufflepuff have got a marvelous keeper this year, while with Marshall gone now we're going to be training a whole new Keeper" Remus spoke up loudly, purposely ignoring Peters innocent request for him to pass the pumpkin juice.

"Well Remy, I do believe that you've hit on something there. But even if you've got a good keeper, you have to have half-decent Chasers to be able to score the points don't you. And if you're seekers absolutely shocking then you're most likely to lose every single one of your matches unless you have brilliant chasers. So my theory Remy, is that you need a well rounded team for these sorts of things." Remus nodded his head contemplatively in response and pointedly snatched the pumpkin juice from the table just as Peter was reaching out to grab it.

He lazily poured himself and Sirius another glass before setting it just that little bit out of Peters reach and resuming his conversation. "Besides Remy, who really cares about the Quidditch Cup anyway?" Sirius spoke up pointedly with a smirk in place on his face as he heard a growl of indignation from across the table. "What about that new song you were working on? You know, the one that you showed me the other day".

Remus couldn't help but grin slightly as Peter began to stretch even further towards the Pumpkin Juice, he almost had it when Remus lazily picked up the jug and cheerfully turned towards a fourth year sitting on his other side, "would you like the Pumpkin Juice?" he inquired innocently and the fourth year raised an eyebrow and took it from him.

Turning back to Sirius he grinned at the indignant squeal from Peter. "I reckon that with abit of work that I could possibly finish it by the end of the week. You know Madam Rosmerta seems quite interested in having us back at some time to play for her customers" Remus replied loftily as Sirius hid a smug smile at his friends casual actions.

"Well then Remy. Shall we go work on that song then?" Sirius spoke up cheerfully, draining his full glass of Pumpkin Juice in one go as he stood. Remus repeated the action and grinned, "exactly my thoughts Siri" he retorted cheerfully. Sirius hummed good-naturedly as the pair left without even glancing in James and Peters direction and casually left the Great Hall.

As soon as they had made it out of the hall both burst into fits of laughter that were barely controlled as they stumbled down the hall. "Did you see Pete's face?" Sirius snorted out laughing hysterically, "an-and when you asked that fourth year if they wanted the Pumpkin Juice! That was priceless Remy, priceless".

Remus grinned broadly, "did you see Jamie's face when you were talking about the Seekers? He looked as though he was going to pounce on his there and then" his hoots of laughter didn't go unechoed by Sirius' own as they made their way down the hall, positively shaking with laughter. 

That was until of course they stumbled across something that they hadn't been intending to, after all it wasn't everyday that you found a circle of Slytherins gathered around some poor unfortunate students, no wait a minute.. Yes it was everyday that you stumbled upon a group of Slytherins bullying some unfortunate student.

Sirius and Remus both sobered up fairly quickly as they drew their wands and turned upon the groups. "Well if it isn't the slimy Slytherins, bullying someone else today are you?" Sirius spoke up cooly his eyes fixed upon the group cooly as he twirled his wand in his fingers and cocked his head to one side his eyes resting lazily upon the group.

The familiar gang of Slytherins turned towards them with amusement, "we heard you had a run-in with a plant in Herbology today Black. Are you quite sure that you can handle something with an IQ higher then a shrubbary?" came the casualy sneer from an unusually talkative Evan Rosier. Remus blinked slightly, Rosier was usually the one who hung around in the background but didn't say anything.

"I wouldn't be so sure that you're IQ level equals that of a shrubbary Rosier. In fact, if I'm quite correct you're last test score somehow managed to get negative twenty out of fifteen. How exactly does one manage to score in the negatives Rosier? The concept alone baffles me" Sirius sneered eyeing the boy with intense dislike.

"Not that you are one to talk Black" Rosier shot back snidely. "If you're Herbology's anything to go by then I wouldn't be surprised if they don't send a letter at the end of the year asking you to come back". Remus' eyes narrowed sharply as he decided that it was his turn to take over before Sirus' temper boiled over, "believe me Rosier when I say that we all know they send you a letter at the end of every year pleading you not to return" he cut in sharply.

Rosier himself seemed quite startled by the sudden scathing remark from the second party and turned his eyes sharply towards Remus before he dropped his scowl and strangely enough began to smile. This alone seemed to unnerve Remus and he gripped his wand tighter his eyes narrowing even more so. 

Sirius it seemed didn't like this sudden change of attitude either and took another step forwards his eyes fixed on the amused group of Slytherins who appeared to be letting Rosier take the offensive for once. The uncomfortable silence that seemed to set in caused Remus to feel increasingly more worried and he shot a glance at Sirius nervously as he pondered exactly what the group of Slytherins were up to exactly.

"Well pardon me if you wanted to make this a social occasion Rosier, but myself and Remus do not have the time to sit around drinking cups of tea and exchanging baking tips as you Slytherins tend to do. So I suggest you either leave the poor buggar alone that you're bullying or we shall be 'forced' to hex you" Sirius finally spoke up calmly his eyes shifting from each Slytherin to the other. He noticed that as soon as he spoke Rosiers smile left his lips and was once again replaced by that nastly little scowl.

"Well Black, as much as we should like to see you 'force' yourselves to hex us. We do believe that you won't wish to, am I right Rosier?" came a soft voice from Avery as he lazily hoisted whoever their captive was up by their robes. To the pairs confusion they saw a smirking Lucius Malfoy hoisted in Avery's grasp.

Remus cursed softly beneath his breath as Sirius glanced towards Remus with a frown, they had been set up of course. "Well as our assistance isn't needed.." Remus murmured slowly glancing pointedly towards Sirius who nodded discretely back. "We'll leave you to whatever it is you slimy creeps tend to do when there's no-one to harass and what-not".

Sirius grinned slightly as he cheerfully took another step forwards, when the group of Slytherins spread out to block the corridor it became increasingly obvious that this was precisely what they didn't want the two Gryffindors to do. "Of course we should be only so willing as to rid ourselves of your company Black" Rosier spoke up again cooly his eyes resting evenly upon the other boy with distaste. "But we wish to have a few words with Remus here".

Remus let out an audible groan which caused Sirius to blink in surprise. Normally Remus would have sprung forwards with some witty comment or comeback, but at present he only seemed capable of groaning with exasperation. His fears that Remus had gone off-form were however thrown off when his friend rolled his eyes airily and ran his fingers through his hair, "you seem to forget something Rosier" he spoke up airily.

"Those few words you speak of are ones that I have heard one to many times. In fact Rosier, I believe that you need to find some new script writers. Your plot-lines getting tediously repetitive" Sirius blinked at his friend in confusion. "Er.. Remy..." he began nervously when Remus waved him off with a hand gesture. "In fact Rosier, how about I give you a few tips? How does that sound, let me see. Tip number one, stop creeping up on me in big groups of your Slimy Slytherin buddys and threatening me with the possibility of 'gasp!' a date! If you're threatening people with your company then it doesn't bode well for your friends there does it? Tip number two, if 'sunlight' isn't a term that your familiar with, maybe 'fake tan' should be. Tip number three, my I'm getting good at this aren't I Siri, maybe I should start up an advice column?".

Sirius was staring at Remus pretty much gobsmacked by the werewolfs sudden take and blinked. He had managed to insult the Slytherins in a strangely unique way without even mentioning the usual insults that they reserved for this particular group. "Tip number three, hmm let me see, let me see. Hold on I've got it, stop - stalking - me. That's a killer piece of advice that one, guess what. I'll even let you have it for free!".

With that Remus stuck his tongue out childishly and shouldered his way through the bewildered group of Slytherins and a particuarly crest-fallen looking Evan Rosier. Sirius blinked after his friend before following suit, wondering just where his friend had managed to pick up his nack for insulting Slytherins. Perhaps he had been getting private lessons from Professor Moore.. That man certainly knew how to throw out a few absurd insults every now and then.

Whatever it was, Sirius was certain that Remus had been needing to get that bundle off of his chest for quite some time now.

******

Once they reached the common-room Sirius appeared to have regained the use of his tongue, and was proving it by talking a mile a minute about the strange illness that had apparently befallen Remus and whether he was sure it wasn't contagious, because Sirius certainly did wish to catch whatever it was that had made Remus able to start spouting off insults as though they were lines learnt from a script.

Remus raised an eyebrow in response and rolled his eyes, "c'mon Siri. I was just sick of having them bugging me all the time. The fact that Mcgonagall has scheduled my first 'tutor session' with Wilkes for tomorrow night doesn't help at all either" he said huffily and Sirus merely grinned. "Well then, let's do something that doesn't require thinking about slimy Slytherins then. Let's work on that song of yours" he announced brightly. 

Remus seemed to brighten at the suggestion and the pair trudged up the stairs and into the dormitory, Remus lazily produced the now common-place guitar and stacks of song sheets and pried the top sheet from the pile with a small grin as he handed it to Sirius. "I'm completely stuck" he announced with a slightly shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't worry Remy. We'll have all of this sorted in no time" Sirius replied absently as he skimmed through the already written lyrics and began to hum absently along to himself as he did so. 

It didn't take long for both of the pair to forget the entire affair with the Slytherins although the surprised group were not likely to be forgetting the encounter quite so soon as Remus and Sirius had.

******


	29. I have a dream

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Eight: I have a dream...

A/n: 

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Cathy-Bloom is currently extremely hyper... prolly cuz she just drunk a vast amount of Caffine in a very short stretch of time and has set up a rather wacked out playlist ^_________^;;. Lotsa Reviews to! That always helps weeeeeee! -chucks out more gummi-bears to all who missed out- Generous Cathy-Bloom! Weeeeeeeee.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

Now to get on to answering some reviews! Starting off wittttttttthhhh.. Er....

Slice-sama! Since you had to review twice to catch up ^________^;; - and because of the Malik-kun shaped cake ^___^;; Cake is good! Almighty Cathy-Bloom-sama... Hmmm. Has a nice ring to it ^__^;;.. Must add to my World Domination Handbook. Hmm beating up Slytherins.. me like me like. o_O@ the sudden random image of Jamie 'n Siri in cheerleader outfits waving pom-poms. WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM! ;; Of course you get Gummi-Bears! o.o;; Bweeeeee. Nuriko-chan ^___^; WAIIIII! Er right, as for what 'wai' exactly means. As far as I know it doesn't really have a meaning o.o;; in general it's just like KAWAII! iow.. a way of expressing your utter and complete lack of other ways to describe the oh-so-kawaii-ness factor. Now onto the SECOND review @_@;; XD WAI! I'm sending the whole crazy insult thing global, 'Your ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower'- C'mon where can't you say that! XD Chewy Caramel Tim Tams! -goes all sparkly shoujo-eyed- Soo... soo.... gooooood. *_* They're biscuity thingies with Chewy Caramel an lotsa chocolate ^___^; XD Spread the Big Ignore as well. That's sooo fun. I give credit to that to my good mate S-sama! ^___^;; Interesting idea for pissing Jamie off... OMG sudden brainwave! Flashback from Scrubs in that episode where that barbershop band are practising in the Hospital at night and randomly show up singing TV show themesongs in the elevators.. XD SkItTlEs! Banana gives a big.. er.. Banana-ish hello back? @_@;; KURAMA! -squeeeeeealllllllllll- 

Halley-sama~! XD! You're a crack up - Dun apologise! XD EVIL-Moore and his EVIL kilt of DOOM. I believe you may have hit on something there.. You can blame all the EVIL-ness on my EVIL-muse. -shoves EVIL Tomo forwards to deal with Halley-sama- 

Onyx and S - -sweatdrops- Every time you review it somehow makes me laugh.. o.o;; Dunno why... Dunno how. You're gifted my friend. o.O;; Besides... you somehow remind me of HOTOHORI-sama. WAIIIIIIIIII! Er.. yeah I think it was just the whole 'we' thing @_@;;

I give it all to Mr. Black- -mega swoon- Waiiiiiiii! Need I say it? Oh who cares I'll do it anyway. Still love the name! The Plant bit was probably only second to Remus' Tips as my favourite part of this chappy ^_^ Oh! and of course the big ignore!

Romm - Hehe! You're not the only one ^___^;; Disturb me all I want.. Now you've got me contemplating Moore/Aunt Penny XD! And once again wrestling comes to mind!

Faries - What happened to the Mad Rampage -blinks- RAMPAGINGS FUN! o.o;;; as my good security guard would agree -nods at Yami Bakura- Shiny things and Fire! Bweeeee pretty pretty fire!

Rena Lupin: Enthusiasm is a virtue ^______^;; Wai! GoOdNeSs GrAcIoUs GrEaT bAlLs Of FiRe. 

vtangelchix: HOW do I do it you say? HOW? XD I simply adore writing this so greatly.. But I suppose it all started when I was just a kid and.... -EVIL muse slaps a hand over Cathy-Blooms mouth- Er.. Guess not then ^__^;; Maybe it's cause I'm just completely insane. That's a good enough reason ^____^;

Alicorn : Long time no review! O_o;; Er.. Mebbeh not ^____^;; Anywho! Mega BURN! Waaiiiiiiii! 

and last.. but certainly not least! Carolinus Took: WoOoOo Scottish people do rule! Believe me. I'm so obsessed wiff Otogi-kun at present that I have changed my entire display to what I have dubbed 'Otogi colours! WAAAAIIIII' ^____^;; It's vereh vereh pretty ^__^;; I've also obtained an unhealthy obsession with dice .;; Er.. Let's move on shall we! Your friend lived in Switzerland ne? .. Hmm I suppose that's close enough... Cathy-Bloom however will not reveal what she was 'smoking' -glances around shifty-eyed- Open your mind and you shall see clearly. -maniacal laughter ensues-.

I just realised that I never gave results for my second poll... o.O;; I sorta kinda forgot about it XD. Aah well we all knew that Moore was the most pimpin' machine out of them all! C'mon MOORE peoples. I just realised that I didn't give the story behind the kilt either so I'm gonna have to do that aren't I ^_____^; Let's get this thing movin! -sniggers- Avenge Me Remy! Avenge Me! .... somebody better bloody avenge me. - I loved that line @_@;; -humms along to Tokimeki no Doukasen from FY enthusiastically while waving a giant Otogi flag-.

Another friendly piece of advice from Almighty Cathy-Bloom-sama (Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?):   
Beware the Camel of DOOM™ and stay away from Muffin Sheep.. They can be hazardous to your health ^___^;;.

Favourite Quote of the Day: Welcome to Loserville, Population = You! - Jounouchi-kun! From the dub @__@;; BATORU SHTEE! Weeeee.

*******

Thursday morning seemed decidedly dull to Sirius Black. After the events of yesterday the tedious mornings worth of History of Magic was something that he had definitely not looked forwards to and it present, with James and Peter still being dealt to with 'the Big Ignore' and Remus bored into a stupor he felt that this was a form of cruel and unusual punishment bestowed upon him by the man only known to the students as Professor Albus Dumbledore (though he dare say that Filch might have had something to do with it as cruel and unusual was his style).

Indeed Sirius was beginning to sink into the same stupor that had claimed Remus when an idea struck him. The slow grin that spread across his face was enough to cause James, who was sitting across the aisle from him to blink slowly and begin to edge his chair away, though curiosity was gleaming in his brown eyes.

Carefully he reached forwards and prodded Remus firmly in the back of the head. With a sleepy snort he sat up blinking and turned his head back towards Sirius as Binns' insistent droning ran through the classroom. "What is it Siri?" he hissed blinking as his hand rubbed ruefully at the spot on the back of his head.

"I have.... a dream" Sirius hissed back and Remus blinked at him. "Er.. what?" he spoke up raising an eyebrow before groaning softly as Sirius rose up to his feet and gained quite a few blinking looks. "I have a dream!" he repeated loudly. Remus shrugged and decided to play along, the boredom of History of Magic getting to him, "tell it preacher!" he called back and Sirius rose up onto his seat.

"I have a dream.. That one day. This classroom will rise up against the ties that bind us to this classroom! I have a DREAM! That one day, we shall not be confined by the cruel and unusual punishment bestowed upon us by the powers that be!". Remus sniggered to himself before crying out, "Amen Siri!".

"I! That's right, I! Have a dream. A dream that one day we shall not be judged by the contents of our minds but by our smashingly good looks..." Remus raised an eyebrow as several snickers erupted from around and Professor Binns glared over the rims of his glasses. "Mister .. Barkley sit down!".

"I have a dream ladies and gentlemen" Sirius crowed out. "Aye!" Locke called out loudly and Sirius nodded his head in Locke's direction. "Now. Run with me!" with that Sirius leapt off of his seat to the floor, grabbed Remus by the arm and took off for the door, leaving it open as they breezed by Professor Binn's with one last outlandish cry of, "I HAVE A DREAM!".

The rest of the class stared blinking after the pair that had suddenly dissapeared before James lazily stood up and strolled towards the door cheerfully giving Professor Binn's a wave of farewell, James was quickly joined by Peter who was followed by Locke and Joe almost immediately. Lily shrugged her shoulders and strode out after them as Binn's watched in confusion as his class dissapeared from his class in a steady trickle.

Finally when only Binns himself was left in the classroom he stared blinkingly down at the textbook he had been reading from before smirking to himself. Sneaking towards the door he carefully pushed it shut before throwing the textbook at the rubbish bin, with a careful glance around to make sure that nobody was left inside the room he whipped his robes off and slumped into his desk-chair kicking his feet up onto the desk.

With a wave of his wand lights began to flash in the background and island music began to play. Binn's stared contemplatively at the cocktail that rested on his desk before humming along to the 'Cucaracha' as his neon-coloured Hawaiin shirt began to glow in the dark. "Finally after all this time they actually took a hint" the man grunted as he lazed back in his chair.

On the other side of the door Jamie Baker blinked as she rose back to her feet after stopping to repack her bag, peering in through the window of the door she slowly backed away as the sound of strange music and flashing lights began to erupt from inside the History of Magic classroom, "... this place is completely nuts" she muttered beneath her breath before hurrying off down the corridor.

******

Remus Lupin, it was fair to say was feeling extremely nervous, more then a little agitated and by all means rather depressed. He chewed nervously on his lip as he bade Sirius farewell at the entrance to the Library, in which these tuitions had been scheduled to take place and strode with a sigh towards an empty table upon seeing that Wilkes hadn't arrived yet. Slinging his backpack on the table he leaned back in the chair and toyed absently with the Magical Earring that Sirius had given him the previous year for Christmas.

His mother had had more then one hysterical rant when she'd seen it and his father had very near ripped the thing right out of his ear. He gave a vague sort of smile as he released the earring and leaned back even further into his chair. His nerves were still bundled up inside of him and he didn't feel the least bit positive about these tutoring sessions, for one thing he was sure having a Slytherin sneering at him while he attempted to transfigure tea-pots into tortoises wasn't going to help him one single bit and that Mcgonagall couldn't see this made him grind his teeth together in frustration.

He glanced up as a thud sounded ontop of his table and wrinkled his nose as Damien Wilkes set his own backpack down on the table Remus lazily straightened in his chair eyeing the Slytherin warily. "Listen up Lupin" he spoke up sharply as he lounged into the opposite side and eyed Remus evenly. "I don't particuarly wish to do this nor do I think it holds anything beneficial to myself. But while I am doing this I don't want to have any of you're idiotic friends hanging around. Got it?".

Remus raised an eyebrow calmly, "fine" he replied cooly. 

Damien Wilkes was a sharp-eyed youth with dark russet-brown hair that was cut off neatly in an aristocratic style that had it gelled back from his face. He was probably the most blunt of the Slytherins and didn't hesitate in pointing out the extremely obvious should you miss it. 

It only took Remus one go at trying to transfigure a quill into a feather duster for Wilkes to declared loudly, "you're saying it wrong". Remus felt his eyebrow twitch distractedly as he lifted his eyes to glare back at him, "well then. You say it" he muttered shoving the quill towards the Slytherin who promptly did so and recieved a nice looking feather duster in response.

Wilkes smirked as he leaned back in his chair, "I really don't see why I should be the one having to bloody tutor you" he acknowledged loudly as Remus began to try and transfigure the feather duster back into a quill. "You would think that Mcgonagall would at least ask if anybody wanted to tutor you. As a matter of fact Rosier is better then I am in Transfiguration".

"Would you mind not mentioning that name, Madam Pince doesn't particuarly enjoy people being violently ill inside the Library" Remus replied distractedly as he began to jab at the feather duster frustratedly with his wand. "Indeed Lupin. I don't suppose she would" Wilkes replied in a bored drawl. "I never did really get what poor Rosier sees in you Lupin." he commented airily as Remus continued to jab violently at the feather duster which didn't seem particuarly responsive.

"Perhaps you should ask him that Wilkes? Maybe then you could convince him that he's seeing things that aren't there and we'd all be happy" Remus muttered back distractedly. "If it were possible Lupin, we would have already done it by now" was the short reply that made this seem as though it were blatantly obvious.

Silence fell as Remus grumbled beneath his breath and once again tried to pronounce the incantation right, he was pleasantly surprised when this time the Feather Duster shrank nicely back into his quill, even if the quill was a lurid purple that looked quite similar to those hideous feathers muggles dyed to stick into said Feather Dusters.

He raised an eyebrow rather amused and prodded the feather with his wand again, "interesting" he murmured thoughtfully. Wilkes rolled his eyes helpfully before muttering something about 'idiotic Gryffindor prats'. Remus returned the compliments with a lazy grumbling about 'slimy Slytherin gits' as he twirled the feather between his fingers lightly.

When Wilkes' smirk once again curled over his lips Remus gave a small groan. Wilkes lazily chucked a piece of folded parchment across the table to Remus with a small smirk and an added parting off, "next Thursday Lupin". With that he swept off without even glancing back and leaving Remus to stare curiously down at the piece of paper resting in his hand.

"Well... It could've been worse" he sighed aloud as he packed away his now bright purple quill and stuffed his wand and the piece of parchment into his pocket. Getting to his feet Remus strolled out of the library and headed off back towards Gryffindor tower, knowing that Sirius had promised him that he would find a suitable punishment for James and Peter by the time that he returned.

******

Saturday morning bought Remus Lupin shifting uncomfortably as he glared in Sirius' direction somewhat nervously. "Are you sure about this Siri?" he spoke up nervously as he watched James and Peter come into view. "Of course!" Sirius hissed back. "What does Jamie hate more then us talking about Quidditch without letting him join in? Us singing when he can't get away from it? What does Pete hate more then anything else? Lots of attention being drawn to him". Remus sighed and shook his head, tugging pointedly at the cane hat that rested on his head and the white pants. "Was this really necessary though?".

Lily Evans jabbed Sirius in the back with a frown, "yeah Sirius. Was it really necessary?". She addressed her own outfit, a white kneelength skirt and a striped red and white jacket that matched the ones Remus and Sirius were wearing. "And just how did you pull me into this?" she added frowning somewhat. Remus grinned at that, "my idea Lils. Thought it might be slightly more effective if our Barbershop Quartet at least had three people".

"This so isn't funny" she muttered beneath her breath as the three snuck carefully to hide behind another statue as James and Peters voices came closer. "I've got nothing to get revenge for!" she added with a grimace and Sirius grinned at her waggling his eyebrows, "this is your repent for leaving me an' Remy all alone tied up by a super-intelligent EVIL plant". 

"Fine" she murmured aloud with a sigh and ducked down as the pair of Marauders came closer. "Have you seen Siri or Remy at all today... It doesn't seem right. I think they might be planning something Pete.." James was heard to say as they rounded the corner. Once they had past, seemingly not noticing the trio hidden behind the large statue the three barbershop singers began to hurry after them.

Sirius beamed at Remus as they shot down the shortcut which led into the entrance hall, a place that was sure to be brimming with activity at this time of morning. Ignoring the strange looks they recieved due to their attire the pair watched as James and Peter appeared from the corridor they had taken still discussing what the other Marauders could be up to.

Without further adue the three members of the Barbershop Trio seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of the two Marauders who blinked in surprise at the group as Remus and Sirius began to snap their fingers as one and began to sing. With Lily stuck looking rather sheepish in the middle, "Oo ah oo ah come on Kitty! Tell us about the boy from New York City. Oo ah oo ah come on Kitty, Tell us about the boy from New York City!".

James and Peter exchanged wide-eyed stares as they tried to shuffle backwards but everywhere they seemed to move the group would move with them. Lily cast a forlorn look at Sirius and Remus before taking up her own post with a dejected sigh, "He's kinda tall. He's really fine." At this point Sirius and Remus, still snapping their fingers crooned out "yeah yeah!". "Someday I hope to make him mine, all mine" Lily continued and was once again echoed by the crooning of "yeah yeah!".

At this James and Peter hurried past and took off into the Great Hall, the three still singing members however persistently followed them right through, ignoring the stares they got as they continued snapping their fingers and Lily fought to keep from crawling under the nearest table to hide her head in shame.

"And he's neat and oh so sweet! And the way he looked at me just swept me off my feet" when James and Peter sat down the three paused behind them and Remus and Sirius grinned at each other as they let out an enthusiastic "yeah yeah!". Lily, her cheeks flaming by now continued, "Oo ee you oughtta come and see! How he walks". "Yeah yeah!". "And how he talks..".

By now James and Peter were pretending they couldn't hear the group behind them but were slowly turning pinker and pinker as people turned to stare at the group, and more importantly at the people they were singing to. When Sirius and Remus took over enthusiastically, "Oo ah oo ah oo oo Kitty, Tell us about the boy from New York City. Oo ah oo ah come on Kitty! Tell us about the boy from New York City".

When both James and Peter finally stood up and bolted for it the rest of the hall watched with amusement as the oddly dressed trio followed after them, never pausing in their snapping of fingers and their cheerful singing.

******

James Potter panted heavily as he leant against the nearest wall clutching his chest as he wheezed heavily, the smaller Marauder beside him seemed in even worse shape then James himself was. "D-do you think we lost them Jamie?" Peter spoke up panting heavily and wiping sweat from his forehead.

Indeed for most of the day the two Marauders had been running from the barbershop singers who continued to pop up in the most unexpected of places and start crooning out songs, it seemed that they had progressed from merely trailing them while belting out lyrics. Now they seemed to always be two steps ahead and would pop out from behind suits of armour and library shelves before continuing the mad singing.

However the group had gathered alot of interest and now a mob of first years were trailing the three singers and another mob were trailing James and Peter. "What'd we ever do to Lily anyway?" Peter spoke up somewhat huffily and James shrugged muttering, "girls are weird like that Pete". "To right they are" Peter responded as he peered around the corner nervously and caught sight of their own trailing mob of first years who looked quite as winded as they did.

"Better get moving agian Jamie. The first years have caught up, that means that Remy, Siri and Lils won't be far behind." James nodded his head in response and slid his glasses carefully back up his nose before the pair proceeded to creep up the corridor again. "Bloody hell. All we did is leave them tied up by a plant" James added with a snort, "this is just plain barbaric this is".

Peter nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe if we go to the common room we can shake them" he suggested hopefully and James sighed and nodded his head. "It's worth a try Pete, it's worth a try. In any case, at least those Slytherins will be having a hard time 'stalking' Remus while we're moving around like this".

Peter snorted aloud but didn't choose to comment on that statement as they began to jog down the corridor. A loud groan left James' mouth as on cue the three singers appeared from behind a statue of a gargoyle and once again they began to sing. "Listen baby, ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough baby.." Sirius took up brightly and Lily blinked as she was nudged by Remus pointedly.

"If you need me call me, no matter where you are no matter how far.." Remus cut through with a lazy, "don't worry baby..". Lily blinked as she was forced to continue with a prod from Sirius, "Just call my name. I'll be there in a hurry you don't have to worry..".

Peter clutched his hands over his ears and followed James' example by turning tail and the pair fled as all three began to pursuit, the ever present snap of fingers and singing drowning in their ears.

They'd thought that they were free of the three singers when they rounded a corner but were sadly mistaken as a faint voice echoed up the hall, "....My love is alive! Deep down in my heart, although we are miles apart..". Once again the pair of Marauders let out groans of dispair and took off with a soft mutter from James of "Hagrids Hut".

The pair ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the halls, ignoring the knowing looks that were sent their way from all directions as they fled down the staircase and into the entrance hall and promptly threw the double doors open and took off across the grounds. The afternoon sun was already starting to dim and their breath was starting to wear down as they had been running and hiding for the majority of the day.

They came across Hagrid in his garden, humming cheerfully as he tended to several varieties of plants. "Hagrid! You gotta help us!" James panted out as Hagrid glanced up raising an eyebrow. "And what is that ye' be wantin' young Mister Potter?" he asked cheerfully, obviously in a good mood with a twinkle in his eyes that James couldn't quite place. "S-s-s-sirius an Remus.. an Lily.. They've been chasing us all... all day... Singing songs" he panted out and Peter nodded his head as Hagrid raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" he commented lightly.

"You want me to help hide you then? Why don't you both go into my cabin, we can have a cup of tea.." the giant of a groundskeeper announced cheerfully and rose to his feet brushing soil from the knees of his pants. It didn't take long before the three were settled down around Hagrids odd table with steaming cups of tea and looking considerably relieved.

"And why exactly were Sirius, Remus and Lily chasing you and Peter?" Hagrid inquired as he offered them a tray of rock-cakes which were refused quickly and as politely as possible. "Er.. Well Sirius and Remus had a bit of.. trouble with one of the plants in Herbology the other day and it sort of tied them up. Well.. our whole class sort of just.. left them there" James admitted sheepishly. 

Hagrid arched an eyebrow with amusement. "Indeed?" he mused raising an eyebrow with a smile twitching at his lips as he glanced towards the window, the three figures that were sneaking around his fence causing him to fight not to roar with laughter as the pair glanced at him suspiciously. "You alright Hagrid?" James spoke up curiously as the groundskeeper began to shake with laughter.

When the door swung open and three immaculately dressed second years strode in panting visibly and snapping their fingers as Remus broke out with, "Now, I've...had the time of my life. No I've never felt this way before, yes I swear it's the truth.. And I owe it all to you." Sirius broke through with a smirk at James and Peters horrified faces, "Cause I've, had the time of my life. And I owe it all to you....".

"I've been waiting for so long now I've finally found someone to stand by me.." Remus continued again before Lily broke through, "now the writings on the wall, as we felt this magical fantasy..". All three fell back to singing as they came to the next part and Hagrid proceeded to roar with laughter and James let out a loud wail of, "STOP!".

******

A/n: Sorry guys, was going to update last night but FF.net wouldn't let me log in. -.-;; Well, Cathy-Bloom might not be updating quite so fast anymore as she must return to school in about two days not to mention the fact that my Uncle died unexpectedly last night. Lifes a bitch ne? Well, Ja Ne, Til next time Cathy-Bloom.


	30. Go Fish

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Twenty Nine: Go Fish!

A/n: Cathy-Bloom is back in action~! Yeah, I'm hyper again! WAIIIIII! The Kiwi's kicked Auzzies ass last night in Rugby so I'm in a freakin' good mood! WAIIIIIIIII~! Down with the AUZZIES! -does the happy-dance- Weeeeee. Er... No offense to any aussies or nothin ^__________________^;; GO ALLBLACKS! Daniel Carter is hot! Waii! Waii! Waiiiiii! -coughs- anyways! Onto the Review Responses ^_____^;; Oh! And all of ya who sent the sympathy for my Uncle, Thankya'll It's really sweet ^______^;;. Hmm... A quote of the day, quote of the day.... -humms- Hell I dunno. -humms along to 'It's Gonna Rain' from Ruroni Kenshin- CHAO! CHAO! Ehe ^_^

Rena Lupin.. Once again you manage to amuse me with every Review ^_____^;; hell yeah! Everyone should have a motto like yours ^____^;; Though my own personal motto is rather.. ehe... different you might say ^___^;; Er.. Definitely will leave it out I think ^___^;;

Tori.. Weeeeeeeeee. I dunno where the whole Binns thing came from @_@;; I thought it was well called for though, I tells ya it's a conspiracy! All those incredibally boring teachers are out to get us! FEAR THEIR WRATH! An ya can thank Scrubs for the Barbershop idea, that combined with a hint from Slice-sama @__@;; Waiiii!

Faries~ You bring the shiny things I'll bring the flamethrower. MAD RAMPAGE! Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Posting Posting Posting Posting Post-it-notes! Ooh I bought bright pink post it notes @_@ FUn FUN FUN~! Er. Yeah! Shiny stuff an Flame Throwers!

Halley-sama ... Ahahahaha Stupid Wilkes ~! James and Pete did pay for their AWFUL deeds ^_____^;; Yes, skool be evil. Skool be very evil. Kill skool kill. Hmmm... Mebbeh I've got a new location for the MAD RAMPAGE! Waiiiiiiii.

Carolinus Took: Yes... Sugar is GOOD. Very good in fact, I RAN OUT OF COKE! -shoves her EVIL Tomo muse- bloody waste of space, this isn't an angst ficcy @_@;; 

Romm!!! O________________O;; Me finx I'm traumatised! Lmfao! All Slytherin Drag Review.... Not a bad idea my disturbing reviewr friend... Of course Moore would get the starring role! Can't you see him in heels an a miniskirt @_@:;; Aaaaah! Disturbing.

Slice-sama yes! I am the Almighty Cathy-Bloom-sama. FEAR MY WRATH! @_@;; Er.. wait. That was a repeat! -glomps her stuffed puppy-dog eyed Remy-chan and munches on Chewy Caramel Tim Tams- YOUR AWESOME! Cinnamon Rolls -goes all shoujo-eyed- WAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! XD Lils was a last minute thing really, she just sorta popped in their from nowhere. I think it was the fact that two barbershop singers was just SILLY! O_O;; Skittles as welL! -hugs- Waiiiiiii! Your story was awesomeness I tells ya O_O;; I was alll weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~! Mega-sugar highness! An as for the paper... all shall be revealed ^___^;; Woooo more domination titles! The Almighty and Wondrous Cathy-Bloom-sama. Hmmm... It has a nice ring to it duncha think *_______*;; Now all I need is to perfect my strategies. FEAAARRRRR ME! 

I give it all to Mr. Black.. Wait... No wait... Here it comes... -goes all sparkly shoujo eyed- LOVE THE NAME! I adored doing the Barbershop thingy... Mostly because that episode of scrubs was simply hilarious and I was laughing for hours following ^______^;; WAIIIIII. "I have a dream!" Bweeeee. The Paper shall reveal itself. The paper knows all. It sees all.. Oh wait. No that's Pegasus @_@;; ^_________________________^;; 

Kylie! - Ooh you get an exclamation mark! Oooh there goes another one! and another... er right ^____^ YAY I did a good job. I'm a good girl Mommy ^___^:; Er.. Right ^___^;;; The plant... Umm I think I was remembering that Plant from The first book that wound up Harry and Ron's Legs... I just thought it might go abit further ^.~ The revenge was inspired by a flashback of that scrubs episode- Waiii I love scrubs ^_^:; an my jokes jus come from the depths of my twisted little mind ^___^; They come to me from nowhere. it's actually kinda scary. Maybe I should consider getting another Psychiatrist ^.~

Delena/Aneled Hupp... CHICHIRI NO DA! WAIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Chichiri-sama -swoons- Blah school. School be the root of all evil... -.-;;

Rachel Black .. Yeah yeah I know, alot of people dun think that Remy an Siri swing that way. But I tells ya it's KAWAII! -coughs- I won't mess with ya though ^.~ As for the leaving it til later, gah I dun wanna ruin the non-existent 'plot' -Jamie sound effects goin' Dun Dun dun DUN'- But I guess I'm gonna hafta tell ya's to get you off my back! Not being rude or nothing ^_____________^;; Hahem, yes it will have slash in the following years starting from third year. Yes they're still very young but it's a promise! I dun go back on my word.. well usually anyway. But it won't be all hardcore fuck-your-brains-out sort of slash. Cuz I usually don't write that way. -nods- it'll be more like Shounen Ai.. IOW.. Siri an Remy won't be like fully at it, they'll jus be acting a bit more 'closely' - Maybe gettin a bit confused an the like, like all good slash fics do ^___^; an I will insert a good amount of James n Lils in there for good measure so I dun freak all the anti-slash peoples out. ^____^:; 

Juggling Stars.. Being crazys not a bad thing! -nods- I am Insane and proud of it. -gestures towards her EVIL Tomo muse and Sadistic Security Guard 'Kura-sama- They're insane too, might be why they fit in so well ^_^:

Them Girl : Absoluttelllllyy fabuuulloooooouuuuuuuusssssss -coughs- you got the theme song stuck in my head @_@;; Shimatta! MOORE FOR PRESIDENT... Er.. I mean ^___^;; Noooo that wasn't an insinuated ploy for my plots of world domination... No no it's only your imagination ^_~

mbali................................... Er......... I...... Am.... Confused. -blinks several times- all I can say is WHAT?

Queenie.... Yeah man. Shot with the Barbershop ^_____^;; Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh! Wai Wai Wai! Poor Poor Lils @_@;; Ahh she had fun in the end didn't she. besides she got to harass Jimmy! -squeal- JIMMEH! 

BabyRed... Yeaaaah go Binns! He's funkeh to the baddezt! Mind Bogglingly Outlandishly Groovy Baby! Waiiiiiii! ^_______^ Sock Rockin' Mate. ....just...as.....crazy... -bursts out crying- Noooooooooo it's not possible! -darthvaderish voice in the background..: Search your feelings, you know it be true...- Nooooooo! -sigh- I guess I'll have to prove that i am truly the most insane of all... MOST INSANE I TELL YOU! James an Lils.. -grumbles- bloody Ootp, messing with all mah plot-lines. Not that I didn't love it of course. But it was about to get chucked into the fire when Siri died. -sniffles- EVIL! EVIL! EVIL! I suppose I should make them get all catty at each other... could be amusing. AHH! Brainwave, ARIGATOU~! Music, Pranks an Seksee Seksee Guys! It's my dream world... -swoons- 

And that my friends, was the Review Responses. Now let us move on to the next part of the exhibition... @_@;; I've decided due to some doubt that I truly am the most insane person here, that I will give you my true-honest-to-god speech that I wrote for my english class. ^___^;; But that comes after the story. So buckle up your seat buckles, grab onto the nearest stationary object... -glomps onto Seto-sama- Hehe... And keep your arms and legs inside the windows... This is gonna be a ride like you've NEVER seen before. ^_~

GO THE ALLBLACKS!.... Go DAN CARTER. XD oh yea.... -shudders- I hate that mortlock... XD

******

James Potter shot a surly look in the general direction of three smugly grinning fellow Gryffindors. "Oh c'mon Jim!" Sirius protested with a roll of his eyes, "you can't still be mad at us". James' eyebrow twitched and he turned towards Peter who nodded his head none-to-discretely, "oh no. Of course I'm not mad at you" James sneered back sarcastically, "you just chased us around for the whole day singing like a BARBERSHOP QUARTET" he roared out.

Sirius blinked at his friend before grabbing Remus by the arm, "oh. And we're not still mad at you" he retorted sarcastically, "you just let us be tied up by an EVIL SMART PLANT!".

At this Lily began to giggle to herself, trying helplessly to muffle it with one hand before giving up completely and erupting into laughter. Sirius and James both shot her surly looks and she stuck her tongue out, "you guys are so childish" she announced and Remus blinked at her. "Er..." he spoke up slowly, blinking several times.

"But.. you just" he began but was cut off by James turning on her. "What's that supposed to mean?" he yelped out indignantly and she rolled her eyes. "It means that you're acting childish" she retorted, James pulled a face before sticking his tongue out at her. Remus went to speak again but was this time cut off by Peter, "why did you help them anyway! We didn't do anything to you".

Lily blinked several times at the sudden onslaught, "guys..." Remus tried fruitlessly but was cut off by Sirius. "Don't yell at Lils!" Peter blinked several times at Sirius before making a rather obscene gesture in the boys direction. "Petey you did NOT just do that to ME" Sirius spoke up slowly his eyes glittering darkly.

"Oh, yeah? What if I did?" the smaller boy squeaked out his hands resting on his hips and Remus began to snicker uncontrollably. James soon followed suit when Peter turned on them, "what? You don't think I could take Sirius on?". Both sets of laughter suddenly erupted and Sirius followed suit quickly followed by Lily.

"Hey!" Peter piped up indignantly but didn't seem to get the effect that he wanted as the three other Marauders and Lily all fell to the ground laughing uncontrollably as a bemused Hagrid stared at them with a raised eyebrow. "Guys.." he tried again blinking but recieved only hoots of wild laughter in response.

"You guys suck" he announced sticking his tongue out before folding his arms over his chest and turning his head away. "Cheers Pete" James called back in a distinctly better mood.

******

Remus Lupin sighed aloud as he stared down at the piece of folded parchment in his hands. He was having some serious doubts as to whether he wanted to open it or not, due to the fact that he would have bet on his grandmothers grave that it was another misguided love letter from one Evan Rosier.

With a grimace he unfolded the parchment and peered down at the now growing familiar handwriting of his unwanted admirer. He skimmed over the writing with a grimace, another letter proclaiming his usual confessions, his usual urgings to meet with him, over all it seemed entirely to be exactly alike every other letter that he had recieved from the boy. Aside from the fact that of course this letter had been hand-delivered.

Witha grumble he crumbled the parchment in his fist and lobbed it over a group of bubbly first years heads, it incidently hit one of the poor first years in the head when they chose to stand up at the precise wrong moment. With a roll of his eyes Remus began to pack up his History of Magic homework with a wrinkle of his nose. God but did he hate that class.

He yelped in surprise as he was suddenly flattened to the ground by an added weight on his shoulders and a cheerful cry of, "there you are Remy". Aside from the fact that Sirius Black was not exactly a scrawny little first year anymore and that Remus' shoulders were in fact, not made of iron, Remus was still not completely healed from his recent transformation and having Sirius Black sitting on his shoulders was not helping him any.

"Siri..." he wheezed out desperately, "I'm not a bloody armchair. There's enough of those around, why don't you sit on one of them?". "Right you are Remy" was the cheery reply and soon enough the extra weight was gone and Sirius was hauling his friend to his feet with a cheerful grin. 

Straightening his robes and trying to regain his breath Remus raised an eyebrow, "so what exactly is it that you wanted?" he asked carefully. Sirius grinned broadly at this, "me 'n Jamie have decided it's time to pull another Prank. We've been resting back abit and there's a few Hufflepuffs who are looking like they want to take over the Pranking department. We gotta show 'em who's boss Remy!".

Remus blinked at his friend in confusion, he himself was on rather good terms with most of the Hufflepuff Second years and he was fairly sure that there were no such Hufflepuffs who were even considering pulling any pranks. While he contemplated this he was dragged cheerfully through the milling students towards the dormitories, where he supposed that James and Peter were waiting.

"Here we are!" Sirius called out brightly as he all but bounced into the dormitory. James and Peter were indeed seated on James' bed waiting for them, James had the Pranking Bible set in his lap and was flicking through it at rapid speed in search of an 'ingenious' prank that would have the school talking for weeks.

James' eyes widened considerably as he came across said prank and his eyes lit up gleefully with a loud crow of, "Operation Kilt of DOOM™." Sirius blinked several times at James, "you sure Jamie? Moore has been in a bit of a vengeful sort of mood at the moment.." he trailed off unconsciously rubbing his head. They had played another game of 'Defense Cricket' only last lesson and Sirius was still sporting the bumps and bruises.

"Of course" James retorted as though this were preposterous. "God I hope Moore wears something under that kilt.." Peter spoke up with a visible wince causing all three other Marauders to look at him before Remus carefully arched an eyebrow. "What exactly is 'Operation Kilt of DOOM™'?"

Remus' inquiry was met with three exchanged glances from the other Marauders before Sirius ushered him towards James' bed. The designated spot for meeting. "Well Remy, it all started when we had that last game of Defense Cricket" James spoke up conversationally. "Siri thought it would be a good idea if we could get Moore back and get the Slytherins back at the same time..".

Peter cut him off cheerfully, "so we devised a plan. A plan that would become one of the greatest that Hogwarts has ever seen.." Sirius smacked Peter over the head and the boy winced sheepishly. "Sorry" he muttered and Sirius nodded in response, James resumed his speech with a half-hearted glare at Peter.

"As I was saying, we took it into our own hands to devise a plan. You see, Sirius here believes that Moore's 'Kilt of DOOM™' is what has been giving him power...". Remus snorted loudly at this and was met with three deadly serious glares, he hurriedly stifled his snickering and nodded his head for them to continue. "So, we proposed a plan that we attain said 'Kilt of DOOM™' and hang it outside the Slytherin Common Rooms. Therefore, Moore will blame the attack on the Slytherins and we shall have the pleasure of seeing the Slytherins blamed for horrendous 'Kilt of DOOM™' crimes".

"... You guys are idiots. You know that don't you?" Remus spoke up suddenly and was met with several mock-offended glares. "Honestly Remy!" Sirius cried outlandishly wiping an imaginary tear from his eye, "how dare you say such things."

James snorted and rolled his eyes, "honestly. You, calling me an idiot? Outrageous Remy, we all know that I'm the smart one here..". Remus let out a loud snort at the same time as Sirius, "honestly Jim! We all know that you're as dense as a brick. But I am for that matter, the smartest Marauder!" Sirius puffed his chest out proudly.

Remus rolled his eyes, "oh puh-lease!" he cried out with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Both of you are complete gits compared to my being smartest Marauder who was ever smart!". Peter blinked, "guys. We all know that I'm the smart one.." he spoke up and all three of the other Marauders exchanged glances before bursting into waves of laughter.

"Yeah. That's a good one Pete!" James crowed out between hysterical shouts of laughter. "Bloody hilarious Pete" Sirius added as he clutched his stomach and clutched onto Remus' shoulder to keep from falling to the ground. "Absolute riot" Remus confirmed as Peter stared at his laughing friends his face falling slightly and pouting. ".. But.. I was serious" he mumbled out as he went unnoticed amongst the fits of insane laughter that were erupting from three out of four Marauders.

******

"See I told you" Remus hissed softly as they crawled through the DADA classroom. "His office is through that door." Sirius added as they carefully crept, under the guise of James' invisibility cloak towards the door. "Are you sure he won't notice a thing?" James asked rather dubiously, should Moore realise what the prank was before he arrived in the great hall that morning then it would be a waste of precious time.

"Of course he won't" Sirius hissed in response. Peter let out a muffled yelp as his foot was firmly trod on by a half-blind James as they changed direction. "This way Jamie" Sirius hissed grabbing his friend by the arm and steering him towards the doorway. "I wouldn't put it past Moore to have alarms up, so keep a close watch on. He is a trained auror you know".

The four shuffled forwards and carefully Sirius pushed the door open, they were startled to find the fire-place glowing, a large leather chair had it's back facing them and Remus exchanged nervous looks with James as they continued forwars. All of a sudden the leather chair swung around and low and behold, Professor Moore sat eerily in the chair. His fingers folded in a tower while his elbows rested on the arm-rests.

His face was dark and cast in shadows and the Marauders stopped dead in their tracks, "hello Muppets" was the casual greeting and the four Marauders exchanged glances. "I suggest you remove the invisibility cloak Potter, it won't help you out anymore" James gulped and removed it with a sigh.

"Now now, Loopy" he announced cheerfully causing Remus to blink several times at the Professor. "Er.. Professor Moore.." he spoke up carefully, summoning the ever-useful puppy dog eyes that could have teachers melting within seconds. "Don't even try it Loopy" was the response and Remus winced.

"Now then Muppets, we are going to play a little game" he spoke up smirking. "Now Black, get over here" Sirius cursed from where he'd been attempting to sneak out the door and trailed woefully back towards the Professor. "That's right, we are going to play a nice little game". Moores laughter rose out high and unnaturally pitched his eyes gleeful as they stared up at the ceiling.

*****

"You got a nine?" Remus asked gloomily and got a gleeful response of, "GO FISH!". 

With a dejected sigh Remus Lupin picked up another card and grumbled when James snickering shook his head and Moore casually rose an eyebrow, a smirk in place on his face, "you got a nine Lupin?". Remus blinked, "but.. I just asked-" he was silenced by a look and reluctantly handed over his nine.

"Have you got a six Professor Moore?" Remus asked again looking distinctly disgruntled and was not in the least bit surprised to hear a gleeful, "GO FISH!". Drawing another card he was outraged when the very next request was, "gimme your six Lupin".

"Sir! That's cheating!" he declared in frustration and Moore stuck his tongue out childishly. "Git" Remus muttered beneath his breath and handed over his six. He blinked when Professor Moore lazily began to pair up the cards in his hand and place them down, grabbing the top pair he blinked at the Ace of Diamonds and King of Spades. "That isn't a pair!" he declared frustratedly and Professor Moore smirked smugly.

"I know" he retorted and folded his arms over his bathrobed chest. He literally was a legend in his own bathrobe.. Remus threw down his hand with a cry of, "do you even know how to play Go Fish?". Moore smirked smugly, "yes. Yes I do".

Sirius blinked at him, "doesn't look like it" he declared stubbornly. "That, my idiotic student, is because I am doing what is commonly called cheating. And I'm getting away with it, because you, being the lowly student, can not stand up to I, the almighty teacher" with this he began to laugh maniacally and Remus sighed. "I never did like Go Fish..".

James nodded his head sadly while Peter let out a loud snore and rolled over on the rug beside the fire. It was after all just after half past three in the morning. "Do you ever sleep Professor?" Sirius asked with a sigh and was met with a raise of eyebrows, "sleep is for the weak Black. Real men drink coffee" with this he produced a hip-flask and took a long deep swig.

"That isn't coffee..." Remus spoke up blinking as the overpowering smell of Ogdens Firewhiskey filled his senses. "Nonsense Lupin, of course it's coffee. Alchol is illegal on school premises" with that he took another long draught of the whiskey and smirked smugly down at them.

"... Right" James spoke up nervously backing away. "Stay where you are Potter. Face me like a man!" James blinked several times and laughed nervously. "Right Sir" he responded making crazy gestures around his head and pointing at the Professor. "I can see you Potter, you aren't invisible remember" Moore added cheerfully taking another swig from his hip-flask.

"So.." Sirius spoke up rather conversationally, obviously trying to distract Moore into forgetting exactly why the four Marauders were there in the first place. "Why are you wearing a kilt. I thought you hated the scottish?". Moore let out a snort of laughter, "of course I do" he said with a roll of his eyes as though this should be obvious. "Bloody scotts...".

"Er.." James blinked several times. "But..".

"Is it story time is it? Do the ickle second years want a bed-time story. Alright then, I'll tell you. It all began a long time ago, back last week when I was playing a game of Poker in the teachers lounge. You see Luff was there, making good use of the confiscated illegal substances cupboard and confiscated alchol cupboard. Hagrid, thought it'd be funny to make a bet on this Poker game. You see, things are always so much more fun when Drugs, Alchol and Bets are involved kiddies".

The three awake Marauders nodded slowly, "well good ol' reliable Hagrid decided that hey, wouldn't it be funny to see someone walking around in a Kilt, someone that wasn't Argus Filch.. So we bet on it." All three Marauders listened carefully, quietly bemused by the underlying drug scandal that was the faculty of Hogwarts.

"Well it seemed to slip my mind that I'm about as good at Poker as I am at belly dancing" he nodded his head in confirmation. "Thats the story kiddies" he confirmed with a nod of his head, "now. Were we not playing Go Fish?" his eyes bore holes into Remus who laughed nervously.

"Er... Right Sir" he mumbled with a sigh. It didn't appear that the Marauders would be getting much sleep tonight, though by the looks of it Sirius had managed to pull of their prank without Moore noticing. At least tomorrow morning, whether they were sleep deprived or not, Professor Moore would be walking around in a grass hula skirt.

******


	31. The Eye of the Tiger

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty: It's the.. Eye of the Tiger!

A/N:

Hahem, 'The British are Coming! The British are Coming!'. -glances shifty eyed like through a periscope- All's clear Kura-sama, no threatening reviewers in sight ^_____^;;.

Review Response time I suppose, 19 reviews for chapter 29, ^____^;; Makes for a HAPPY Cathy-Bloom... Well, an almost happy Cathy-Bloom. -glares pointedly at FF.net for attatching the much molared '1' to her pen-name- EVIL!. Well, here goes then...

Slice-sama: The first to review! Bweeeeeeeeeeeee. Cinnamon Rolls are good ^__^; Personally I didn't really think that was one of my better chapters either... Just.. didn't really work as well, not that anything will ever be up the same standard as the Christmas chapter from first year. That was my all-time favourite me thinks @_@;; I just realised how mean I made them to poor Pete -blinks- Ahh he'll get his own back at them in the end. Hmm Your advice on project 'Rosier' is noted.. .;; I suppose it will get a'bit' darker as Voldie gets his thang on, but still... this was always intended to be my comical release so it'll prolly stay that way for the most part, that's unless Tomo-kun decides to become more influential... XD there may be SCARY cults.. But not of the kind your thinking ^.~ The Siri thing I've been pondering ever since I read the fifth book, I think I've come up with a solution to, though it does mean that poor ol' Olly's going to meet a rather nasty end @_@;; Poor Poor ol' Olly! Yummeh! Cookie Dough is gooood ^_^; It just aint the same when you cook it @_@;;...

Faries, Once again with the all capitals! -shoves 'kura-sama out- He doesn't like all caps, they make him feel... threatened. 

mbali: ^_____^;; Oooookay I getcha now. I'm not particuarly a fan of the Beatles, it was actually a request which brings me to my next announcement, ahem!

If any of you have been waiting, in dreaded suspense for your all time favourite golden oldie to come into the scene - or not so golden.. Then just leave the song/artist in your review. Cathy-Bloom is more then happy to oblige her reviewers ^___^; -nods- Yuppahs! Anyway ...

continuation of mbali's reviewer response: Thankyou for the grammar tip as well, always appreciate the constructive criticism. Peace Out XD - ahh that be ol' skool right there.

Delena/Aneled Hupp: Aaaah I adore Chichiri-sama as well. *______*;; XD If Moore was really there in the books I'd be highly unnerved and probably open a psychics line. It was definitely 'some class'. Nicholson was truly insane I tell you @_@;; Nicholson being the real life version of Moore of course. Arigatou!

Carolinus Took: Aah so generous! Bweee, Always Coca-cola. Oh yes, the hula skirt will be featured in this chappy I believe..

Rena Lupin: Another undercover conspiracy that I swear I will unearth! -clutches her heart- It shall be known by all that the Hogwarts Staff are making use of the Illegal Substances cupboard! My motto.. Heh, you oughtta get a laugh out of that, it's actually from Dr Seuss..  
I learned there are troubles of more than one kind.   
Some come from ahead, others come from behind.   
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready, you see.   
Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me.   
Now that's what I call something to live by. -Snickers- Yes, I'm armed and dangerous ^_^; but BWEE! I'm Special ^_^; I seriously don't mind your lack of life, if it means that I get paragraph reviews =P Rambling be fun! Weeee. Oh, and you're special too, you got pretty italics!

BabyRed: -stares at the cieling- WHY SIRI WHY? -cough- Er... ^_^;; -glomps Prof. Moore- MINE! -hisses- Though I would sell him for a reasonable price. -nods thoughtfully- The Pranking Bible, well that was just another random burst of insanity from Cathy-Blooms twisted mind. -nods- Well Arigatou for all the praise an worship ^___^; -nods- If you're interested you can buy a pair of my sandals to worship XD Nah nah jus' jokes. My world domination schemes aren't quite up to scratch yet so I need every pair of those sandals. -nods-

Romm: -sniggers- Bob. Oh how I love that name @_@;; Though I am a strange person, I laughed at my friend for going to her formal with a guy named Fred. -sniggers- Fred... I should certainly hope he wears something under his hula skirt -shivers- I don't believe the first years would ever get over the shock. The Drag Review will certainly make an appearance, in a special ROMM dedicated chapter @_@;; Wooo. 

vtangelchix: -blinks- Writing Disease? -giggles maniacally- touch'e my reviewer friend! Poor Moore, I think you hurt his feelings. -Glomps Moore- the evil bastard that he is ^__^ Peeves made a brief cameo somewhere along the line I think, with the whole 'loony loopy Lupin' but he'll prolly make another appearance soon now that you've reminded me. I have a feeling that he'll get along just swell with Jamsie and Siri.

I give it all to Mr. Black: Heh... You know what I'm going to say. -nods- XD Moore won't take the whole hula skirt thing sitting down that's for sure, let me just say that it might be a tad.. 'disturbing' if you will. -sniggers-

Halley: -does the happy dance- Weeeee. You've got the right idea, SCREW SCHOOL. 

Zorro X: Heh... Insanity is my ONLY department. -nods- Perhaps I spent to much time with my muses -shruggles- Anywhoooo Siri's Banana will make another appearance soon, after all, the first years haven't met him yet. ^.~

Lisa: Cheeers @_@;; 

Kat: I'm glad that you feel better? -blinks- Yay! I"m special! Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Kylie: Mwahahahahah! I have converted you. The oldies are hilarious I tell you... All I need is to get Jimmeh to sing the Shaft Themesong XD Oooooh the fun! Poor Pete, he will get his revenge though. -shruggles- Moore is truly the root of all evil... Yeah, nobody will notice you cheating -sniggers- Because MOORE is so adept at it and everything. Can we say someone has to much power for their own good?

The Silver Lady: Arigatou! Am Updating ^_____^

Christina: Nervous? Why the hell are you nervous? It's only good ol' trusty Cathy-Bloom with her rusty dagger and psychotic muses. -insane laughter and cheesey horror film music- I'm the BESTEST! Bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Aaah my ego just keeps on getting bigger and bigger. Aaaaah New Reviewers are great ^____^;; 

Desperate Reader: I see... I suppose I could Update.. Hmmmm..... nah?

Alicorn: The dreaded '1' got you too! DESTROY! Er.. @_@;; Dood! Sucks about the fever thing. Wellllll.... ^______^;; Er.... Onto the story I guess?

I just realised I never posted my speech after the last chapter so It'll come after this one ^____^;; Simple as that. Lalalalala. Oh yeah, I am INSANE baby.

******

The morning sky was grey and dull, the grass wet with dew and a billow of smoke was puffing out of the chimney of Hagrids Cabin. All in all it was a rather dull, unexciting day for the four second year Gryffindors who were just arising from their beds. In fact, for one James Potter it seemed as though he were having a great deal of trouble extracting himself from his sheets...

"Bloody! Hell! These... They're choking me! Remy! Siri! PETE! HELP!".

Bleary eyed and tousel haired Sirius black peered groggily down at his best friend, devoid of his usual glasses and struggling against the strangely animate sheets. "Moore again?" Remus yawned out lazily.

Sirius in return gave a vague nod, "looks like he charmed Jamesies sheets" he added sleepily. 

Remus shuffled over yawning, his eyes peering down at James who was desperately fighting against the sheets. "We should really get the prefects to change the password" Remus replied conversationally.

Sirius gave a vague grunt of reply before peering down as James began to turn a strange shade of bright red. "It appears that the sheets are winning" Peter commented sleepily from where he'd staggered over and was now leaning against the bedpost.

"We should probably help him" he added thoughtfully as he peered at the all-powerful 'demonic' sheets of doom which appeared to have quite an advantage over the half-blind struggling second year.

Remus nodded his head vaguely in response and leaned over to begin tugging violently at the sheets which seemed to be tugging back with just as much conviction. "Right you are Pete" he grunted back as Sirius leaned over to help him.

The trio began to rip and tug at the possessed sheets in a state of half-slumber as James turned an interesting shade of purple. Finally after several minutes of struggling three Marauders managed to wrench away the sheet from a bright pink James who began sucking in mouthfuls of air.

"This is bloody ridiculous.." Sirius yawned aloud rubbing his eyelids. "First he keeps us up all night for going to prank him but then he manages to prank us before we get back to our beds. How does he bloody do it?" 

The two Marauders who were in any condition to give a response merely scratched their heads or in Remus' case, yawned loudly in response to Sirius' own with a mutter of, "damnit Siri, I'll be yawning all day now. Bloody Moore.. Bloody Go Fish..".

Sirius nodded his head in confirmation as James began to return to his natural skin tone and stop sucking in vast amounts of blessed oxegyn. "We have to get him back" James wheezed out patting himself on the back and fumbling around on his bedside table for his glasses. 

Sirius merely nodded his head and grinned lopsidedly at Remus as James knocked a drinking glass onto his foot and began cursing loudly, causing a sleepy grumble to escape the closest set of closed drapes. Peter however was yawning loudly and snickering appreciatively at James' sudden clumsiness. "You're as blind as a bloody bat Jim" Sirius added with a snicker watching his friend with amusement.

"Shove a sock in it Siri" was the distracted reply as the Potter boy nursed his foot in one hand and hopped around spectacuarly while trying to find his glasses.

Remus rolled his eyes eventually and plucked the set of glasses from the table shoving them promptly into James' hands and raising an eyebrow when James poked himself in the eye with the frames before blinking teary-eyed at him through the thick lenses. "Thanks Remy" he spoke up sheepishly before peering down at the clutter that he'd managed to knock to the floor.

"Well, we don't need to get him back just yet Jim. For one, he may still have fallen victim to the prank I managed to pull off last night. And two, I want food, now" Sirius spoke up a slight whine entering his voice as he peered pleadingly between the other three Marauders who hit the ground with a resounding thud.

Sirius peered down at the three floor-bound Marauders and stared wide-eyed at the group. "What the heck are you all doing down there? Weren't we going to get breakfast... It's bad enough that I was deprived of my beauty sleep but I'm not skipping breakfast as well...".

"Guys?".

Sirius blinked several more times when he got no response from the group of three who were staring wide-eyed up at them.

"Guys?" he repeated slowly with confusion.

Sirius let out a loud yell of surprise as ice-cold water cascaded over him, drenching him from head-to-toe.

A group of certain third years lifted their heads in surprise as a loud, echoing cry of, "MOORE!" echoed down the dormitory stairs and flooded the commonroom.

******

By mid-morning, when Sirius had finally managed to dry himself off and the Marauders were finally entering the Great Hall for their breakfast raindrops were splattering heavily against the castle walls and barraging the windows. But it seemed that they weren't the only ones who were sleep-walking to the great hall. It appeared by all means that half of the faculty still weren't present when the Marauders slumped into seats at the table and peered up the table curiously at Locke who was sculpting a statue with a resemblance to Dumbledore out of his porridge.

Remus raised an eyebrow and shook his head dismissively deciding he really didn't want to know. He began to pile food onto his plate in a similar fashion to Sirius, except it appeared he was much more skilled at stacking his food so it didn't fall onto the tablecloth and spill across the table. James and Peter merely ignored the strange eating habits of their friends and began to pile their own food onto their plates as the first years stared in the utmost awe at the towering stacks of breakfast materials that now stood magnificently upon the once gleaming plates.

"We were never that uncool" James announced cooly as he stuffed scrambled eggs into his mouth at a rapid rate. 

They heard a distinct snort of laughter from behind them and James whipped his head around to see who dared challenged his 'cool'ness. It wasn't that greater surprise to find a passing Lucius Malfoy, Damien Wilkes and Evan Rosier at the center of this oh-so blatant denounciation of James' oh-so-precious cool-factor.

"Please Potter. Despite how 'cool' you may believe you.. 'are' let me make it known that you are in no way as cool as the snivelling snotty nosed little Gryffindor first years" Malfoy sneered with a roll of his eyes.

"Buggar off Malfoy. Can't you see I'm eating?" Sirius spoke up haughtily, he didn't enjoy being disturbed in the middle of a meal after all.

The Slytherin in questions lip curled in a sure sign of disgust and he tossed his head with amusement. Glancing between the pair of Slytherins who currently flanked him he rolled his eyes, "we can see that Black. After all, when your eating habits resemble that of a pigs they can hardly be missed can they?"

Remus wrinkled his nose and glanced up as Peter rolled his eyes and continued to eat his porridge, fully intending on ignoring the Slytherins to the best of his ability, which they'd discovered was rather a strong point on the smallest Marauders reputation. Deciding to take Peters league upon seeing who they were dealing with Remus promptly took another bite out of his breakfast and watched discretely as Sirius fumed.

"What Black. Does the truth hurt that much?" Malfoy sneered with a casual glance over the rest of the first years who were staring at the Marauders, expectant of one of the glorious battles of wits they had heard so much about but had yet to witness.

Seeing the anger on both of his friends faces Remus decided it best to take over, the pair looked barely capable of stringing a sentence together let alone deal to the Slytherins with the Marauder Code of Honour. "Malfoy, will you refrain from speaking while I am eating. I rather like my breakfast and the sound of your voice tends to be nauseating" he spoke up calmly and politely without bothering to turn his head.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as James regained his cool and stuck his nose in the air, "quite right Remy. Though I would say that their presence alone is enough to make me have the urge to be violently ill.. Perhaps we should look into getting some vaccinations? The illness seems to be getting more common these days" he spoke up sniffily and Remus grinned slightly.

"Yes Lupin. You seem to be ill very often these days... What is it, once a month that you are required to leave classes?" Malfoy spoke up with a smirk toying at his lips.

Remus felt himself stiffen automatically, his eyes shifting sharply onto Malfoys face as he for the first time turned to face the trio of Slytherins. He heard Sirius before he saw him. With a snarl the boy had suddenly launched himself at Malfoy and the pair were lost in a tangle of limbs and furious punching, without a second thought Remus threw himself onto the pile, dragging down one of the other Slytherins with him. James politely wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin before launching himself at the last of the Slytherins and joining the brawling mess on the ground.

Peter blatantly ignored the scrambling on the ground behind him and polished off his porridge before standing and carefully extracting the first of his friends from the fight as Mcgonagall came swooping down on them. Remus rubbed his split lip before realising the interruption and dragging James from the pile before helping Peter to extract a struggling Sirius from the mess.

They watched thoughtfully as Mcgonagall began to shriek at the group. "I expected a better example from all of you! In front of all of the first years as well! Why I never...".

She stopped however in her tracks, her jaw freezing half-open and her eyes bulging as they rested upon the doorway. The Marauders one by one followed her gaze and it suddenly came apparent where the rest of the faculty were. In the doorway stood one Professor Moore, clad in his grass hula skirt and not a lot else. 

A flower necklace was slung around his neck and a flower stuck behind his ear, in his hands he held a ukalele which he was apparently strumming. However attatched to Moores ankle appeared to be Professor Flitwick, the tiny charms teacher. Clinging desperately to his arm was Professor Luff, the sullen Potions teacher, Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department was fruitlessly tugging on his other arm and a great crowd of teachers were clinging to various other body parts.

From what Sirius could tell it appeared that Moore had hit the whiskey a little to hard, he was singing loudly along with rather bad ukalele playing as he dragged the teachers along behind him. "Right down'choo Cogomooooo" he slurred out cheerily waving at the students as he staggered into the great hall with the rest of the teachers being dragged behind him.

"Murray! Murray c'mon you don't want to go in there!" Professor Sinistra pleaded loudly and Sirius glanced slowly towards Remus with a grin. "Murray?" he mouthed raising an eyebrow.

"Where the hell did he get a hula skirt from..." Mcgonagall moaned softly burying her face in her hands as Moores voice rose out over the suddenly dead silent Great Hall.

"Unhand me Muppets!"

Remus chuckled softly to himself as he watched the insane defense teacher shake Flitwick off of his ankle and begin to strum his ukalele again. "Uptown'sh gots ish hustlerss. The bowry'sh got ish bumss. 42nd street gotsd Big Jim Walker. He'sh a pool shootin son of a gun. He 'bout ash big and dumb ash a man can comes, But he'sh stronger 'an a country horse. An' when all the bad folks get t'gether at night, Y' know they all call Big Jim bossh. Just because...".

The fact that the ukalele sounded completely ridiculous with the song didn't seem to deter Moore from his little performance. He broke free of Sinistra and Luff and swept further into the hall. Apparently forgetting his place in the song he shrugged and struck up a different song. This one however made all four Marauders peer at each other before breaking down into fits of laughter.

"When I was young, I never needed anyone, and making love was just for fun, those days are gone.... Living alone, I think of all the friends I've known, but when I dial the telephone, nobody's home... All by mysellllfffff. Don't wanna be! All by myselllllf. Anymore.. Hard to be sure, sometimes I feel so insecure and loves so distant and obscure.. remains the cure.. ALL BY MYSELF! Don't wanna be all by myself anymore.. All by myseeellllllfffff... I don't wanna live, all by myself.. anymooooreeee...".

The students stared at their teacher, so out of his tree that he was reduced to singing whiny love songs with only a ukelele as accompaniment. They watched as he began to smash the Ukelele into the ground while bellowing his lungs out to the song, the rest of the staff were slowly edging backwards horror evident on their faces.

Sirius grinned however and punched the air, "you tell them Moore!" he roared appreciatively and recieved the big finger of response.

Moore continued to smash the ukelele into the ground as the Ravenclaw table stared in absolute horror at their head of house. "He must have found the keys again.." Mcgonagall muttered distractedly.

She stared in horror at the man who was now trying to perform a jig sending his grass skirt flying and stumbling over his own feet.

Sirius suddenly let out a crow of triumph pointing at where Moore was performing a drunkards handstand.. In other words he had landed rather heavily on his head and his legs were splayed in the air. 

"I TOLD you he was a boxers man!" he declared loudly to the three Marauders who surrounded him. With a sigh the other marauders dug obligingly into their pockets and each handed Sirius two golden galleons.

******

Sirius Black stuck his head around the corner carefully, his eyes locking on the target. One poltergeist by the name of Peeves was indeed bouncing around the corridor ahead and surely Argus Filch was not far away. He raised an eyebrow as 'the eye of the tiger' made its presence known in the background. Craning his head around he frowned at James half-heartedly who shrugged and continued humming.

Remus nodded curtly and Peter began to hand out the arsenal. Several waterballoons filled with flour and several filled with water, once loaded the Marauders nodded to each other, James still humming infectiously along to the said song. As one they slid out around the corner.

Malicious smiles crossed all fours lips as they stared upon the Poltergeist who paused in his bouncing, "hello Peeves" Sirius spoke up pleasantly as James continued to hum along in the background, now headbanging his head along with his self-made music.

Remus snickered to himself and loftily armed himself with one of the water filled balloons. Peeves was now eyeing them warily, "we have a little 'business' to take care of with Filch Peeves" Sirius spoke up with a small smirk. "I have a feeling that you will.. enjoy our little arrangement".

James continued to hum infectiously randomly bursting out with, "it's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals.. As the last known survivor stalks it's prey in the nighttt, it's the eeyyyyyeeeee of the tiger!". 

Peter cast him an odd glance as James resumed his humming and Sirius struck up again. "We need you Peeves, to get Filch down here without him suspecting anything is up. Do you accept?".

Peeves' face became thoughtful as James struck up the chorus again. "I agree to your terms Black" he conceded before crashing straight into a suit of armour. Sirius nodded before he began to hum along with James, soon enough the infectious humming had claimed Remus and Peter as well and all three were crowing out, "it's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals.. As the last known survivor stalks it's prey in the nighttt, it's the eeyyyyyeeeee of the tiger!". 

When a battle cry of, "PEEVES!" rose up through the air all four Marauders, without pausing in song Remus and Peter hoisted water balloons while James and Sirius held the flour-filled balloons ready. The second that Filch came in sight the balloons were sent flying, plastering Filch and his dratted cat in the gluey substance that followed.

With that all four Marauders turned tail and fled down the hall, Peeves' insane laughter following them.

******

A/N: Okay minna, this was supposed to go at the end of LAST chapter but I plain forgot. Okay, for the sake of it, I am going to PLEAD you not to steal-age this. You may quote it, you may make reference to it if you like it that much, but this is really important that you don't take it. Mostly because this was entered for my NCEA Leavel 1 Speech for 3 credits (it got merit by the way!) and is really important that it isn't seen as being 'stolen' material. So this was entered by Nicola North for her speech from PHS for NCEA Level 1 English, Arigatou! 

How to Convince the World you are Insane in 9 Easy Steps.  
A speech by yours truly.

They always stand out. You know who I mean, those people who seem to be completely giddy... Like they're on a sugar high 24/7. Crazy, Insane... Call them what you want, all I know is that I've had one to many comments about "the men in white coats".

My challenge for today, which I have accepted quite gladly, is to give a few tips on how to convince the world you are insane in nine easy steps.

Starting right from step number one it's easy. It is essential that you get your priorities straight. Skittles... MnMnM's, Gummi Bears and Coke are the most important things in your life.

Step two requires abit of skill, carrying out an entire conversation composed soley of the word 'dude' isn't as easy as it may appear to be.

So people just don't seem to but it yet? They just think you've hit your head one to many times? Well I'm just getting started, this challenge is far from over. Step three requires, your uttermost firml belief in the almighty power of ch4eese.

Okay so I know by now most you are thinking it's time to ring those men in white coats and bust out a straight jacket or two. But you know what? We've only just scratched upon the surface of a truly insane mind.

Step four starts to complicate things, involving claims that Jesus is your best mate and you talk to him on a regular basis - If you're having a particularly good day you might even go on to add that your name is 'George 'Dubya' Bush' and you're really the president of the USA.

Step five leads us even further into these twisted tales, saying you've got connections in the mafia usually raises a few eyebrows and if all else fails ending ever sentence with 'in accordance to the prophecy' or at the scene of a drug swap hiding in the bushes making police siren noises might do the job.

Never forget, if you're lost then following the yellow lines down the middle of the road will lead you home.

Step six. No matter what your parents, guidance counsellors, psychiatrists or the Police Offices might say, Shiny objects are good. If it's shiny, it IS necessary for everyday life.

If you ever think you're getting that little bit TOO sane then step seven will throw you straight back into the insanity. Performing a public sacrifice of gummi bears for your latest voodoo ritual will surely get you carted off to the rooms with padded walls.

Finally we reach step eight, when you can announce to the world while keeping a straight face, that your life long ambition is to become a broadway star then you know you've rached the ultimate goal, you my friend have reached step number nine.

The step that comes only when you've become so lost into insanity that seeing leprachauns dancing around you backyard is an everyday occurance. The step that is the kind of insanity that will see you in fifty years sitting in the dark throwing rocks at neighbour hood children.

Step nine, is when you even consider writing your pseech about the challenge of proving your insanity to the world in nine easy steps.

By now I'm sure the people who are still listening to this random load of insanity are thinking 'what is this girl on?' and the rest of you are making pretty patterns out of the splatters on the cieling, but that means that my challenge today is a success.

My challenge today was to convince you of the top nine ways to show your insanity to the world. You might not have heard a single word I've said in this entire speech, but the world as I see it needs a little bit of insanity. After all if we were all completely normal then life would be boring!

My very last piece of advice for you today is to slowly back away - Don't make eye contact and whatever you do.. Don't show fear. We can smell it.


	32. Ribbons, Plans and Something to Gasp at

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty One: 

A/N: Ribbons, 'Plans' and Something to Gasp at.

'Oh no', you say. 'She's back!' you say.

.;; Er.. ^___^;; I have issues.

Gomen! This took so long to get out, but I do have a scapegoat. -Noddles- It's all THAT guys fault, you must blame it all on THAT guy. BLAME IT ON THAT GUY! And I just bought the first Love Hina dvd ^-----^;; Poor Keitaro-chan. Anywho! Onwards -~-~-~ Er now that's been dealt with, let's get onto the review responses, -clears her throat- 

Faries: -winces- Noooo.... I don't think you're insane ... Nooobody thinks you're insane ^___^;; But I do maintain that Capitals are the sign of the devil and should be banned. -nods- However, I shall grant you immunity... -glances all shifty eyed- Another one for the rooms with padded walls.. Tralalala...

Alesca Munroe: How will Moore get back at the Marauders...? -chortles evilly- oooh... Poor ickle Marauders won't know whats hit 'em... Mwahaha.. Mwahaha...Mwahahaha! Sugar! -blinks- I ish on sugar to.... ^______________________^; YUMMEH!

Onyx and S: .;;; SO THAT WAS YOU! -leeeeeeers- Bloody hell... 

Carolinus Took: o.o;; Reviewers are truly strange creatures. -nods accordingly to her muses who are presently bound and gagged- However, I suppose authors are just as strange so really, there is a balance in this world... ^____^; Hmm...

Halley: You are very onto it. School does suck. XD The word 'doofus' amuses me greatly for some reason.. Maybe it's just me.

Rachel Black: So you to have discovered the almighty powers of Cheese. Wise girl. I shall hold you in my greatest esteem. -noddles- I am proud to say that Banana is fully gracious of your compliments, although he may not seem like it. -Leeeeeerrrrsssss at Banana- Dun worry about the crack thing, my friends think I'm permanently on crack, we have created conspiracy theories about crack being in the water system... Courtesy of the TURTLES. -leeeeeeeerssssss- You have the makings of the truly insane, well done. Shall update.

The Silver Lady: -nods back- Excellent.

BabyRed: -blinks- Oiiii... Locke ish a student. -noddles- Though upon re-reading that para it did make it seem like he was a Professor @_@;; Oiii. I should really look for things like that ne? Gomen for the confusion! I'mmmmmmmmm aaaaaannnnnn utter peanut butter nutter! From SANITARIUM! I take the freshest peanuts in the worlllllddddd and pour them innnnn! ( - Cathy-Bloom does not own Sanitarium - ) XD 

Romm: Weeeee... Disturbing is fun. The sudden need to disturb is growing... @_@ You're chapter should be coming up next, need to prepare for it first. XD Damn, I wish I'd thought of pelting people with gummi bears, theres a certain Ex that I wouldn't mind knocking unconscious with a misplaced stone crafted gummi bear in my english class. ;; Aaah well, thanks for the tip for next time -maniacal laughter ensues- 

I give it all to Mr Black : Wait! No... here it comes. -Sprouts shoujo-eyes and clasps her hands together with little floaty hearts- LOVE THE NAME! -sticks it up on a plaque- ^___^; XD You bet there'll be hell to pay, poor Ickle Marauders won't know whats hit 'em. ^____^ 

Destiny Bunny: Oh stop! -sniggers- My genius is swelling as fast as my ego.... 

LoonyLoopyLisa: ^____^ Why thankyou, that speech is my pride and joy. -snuggles it- 

Kylie: Yes, Professor Moore is still sticking rather closely to my previous teacher believe it or not. And my old teacher DID go so far as to walk around in a kilt, so I believe it possible that he would go around in a hula skirt, disturbingly enough. -twitches- Yep the Marauders found out first year and I'm still currently deciding upon the fifth book, it would have to cause a major attitude slide to go with but an idea popped up that I might just be able to snag the plot-line back into focus .

Daine Yuy: DOOD! the real life Moore was actually just as bloody hilarious, bloody scary... but still hilarious ^_^

Slice-sama: PLOT! *Insert GASP and appropriate Dun Dun DUN!* Plot? What plot. -blinks confusedly- This was and always has been my comical release @_@;; Which I suppose means that it's all for shits 'n giggles really. ^_^ The Prank Siri-baby pulled off was merely the hula skirt effort, Moore got drunk 'allllll bbbbbyyyyyy hiiiiiiimmmmmmseeeeeeeellllllllllfffffff' -sniggers- Though he'll find a way to blame it on the Marauders don't you doubt it ^____^ More horrified Ravenclaws to be featured this chapter hopefully, they're just so much fun to torment! -grins- I'm sick of poor Remy being portrayed as the quiet little bookworm. It's about time the poor werewolf got a bit of fun! Always being shown as some little dweeb -huffs indignantly- YOU ROCK MY SOCKS REMY! -twitches- Siri also a work of art.. -glomps- So beautiful, so passionate -swooons-. SUGAR! -drools to herself- Lots of Yummeh Yummeh Smut... Jou n Seto n Otogi n Ryou n Bakura n Malik *____* -blinks- I did forget Lils @_@;; hell, she's gonna break out in this chappy then. XD You aren't the only one with a perverted mind. -sinks away into her own mind drooling- Mmmm... Sekseh sekseh ^___^;

Vtangelchix: The least you can do is try. -noddles and pets Moore- goooood Moore, don't bite. ^_^ The lack of fast updating lies simply in the lack of time, this is of course my 'most important year at school' XD so yeah. Big ups for the teachers using that line so it actually STUCK. Yea yea, more pranks. I knew I was slacking .;; I know I know already .;; Tis the teachers! They feel the need to give us both mid-year exams, Pre-lim exams and then Actual EXAMS! o.o Study Study Study for poor Cathy-Bloom ;;

warriorGL: ^____^ good advice! I SHALL eat more skittles. ^-^;; I like your style kid ^-^

Erato: Thanks, Shall do... After a month =S

Simple Confusion: Arigatou! ^-----^ 

drama-queen: It is getting rather long isn't it.... =S Woohoo! It does take rather a long time to read it, Even I'M starting to forget stuff that's happened... And I'm writing it @_@;;

nastygurl: Arigatou! ^----^

Aaaaah I can't wait for third year! New teachers ^____^;; I have the perfect inspiration for another teacher just BEGGING to be used. So gotta hurry up second year. All the fun stuff comes in third ;;; Ahh well, Arigatou for all the reviews and let me get my groove on! GO FORTH GUNDAM TEAM! -sweatdrops- Er.. To many GW Marathons for me. I apologise a million times for the length of the chapter, it's pitiful. But the art of writers block armed with the lack of time made this what it is ;; hopefully the next chapter comes alot quicker and isn't so poorly written.

******

As far as days went, Lily Evans' wasn't going particuarly well. Having slept in after someone had tampered with her alarm clock, the red-head had found scarce time to have a shower, let alone make it to the Great Hall for breakfast, and currently she was hot-footing it towards the Charms classroom, with a glance toward her watch she grimaced visibly, class had begun five minutes prior.

With a dark muttering that promised vengeance to the soul who had dared meddle with her alarm clock she slowed just in time so as not to completely pass-by the classroom and knocked with a wince upon the doorway. When a high pitched squeak called for her to enter she gingerly pushed the door open and shuffled inside, mumbling apologies to the teacher in question before shuffling towards the seat that Sirius was waving her violently towards.

Muttering distractedly beneath her breath as she began to unpack her bag she winced as a sharp elbow in the side caught her attention. She turned a dark emerald glare upon the grinning boy in question and peered expectantly at Sirius' charmingly grinning face. "You need to work on your dramatic entrances Lils" the boy hissed recieving a glare which he paid no heed to.

"Really, if you had just told us you needed help we would have offered our services gladly. Young Jamesie here is a regular genius concerning such things" Sirius gestured pointedly in James' direction and beamed innocently at the dazed sleepy looking stare that he got in response.

"Hunh?" was the intelligable response from the still half-sleeping Potter causing a stifled snicker to escape Remus' lips from the left. "Dramatic entrances Jamesie" Sirius persisted looking slightly put-out, "they're your department are they not?".

When all he recieved were stupid blinks of response Sirius omitted a loud sigh of disbelief, "see what I've got to work with..." he grumbled in the direction of a by now very-much-so disgruntled Lily Evans who raised an eyebrow as sniggering erupted from Remus and Peters general direction.

"What's so bloody funny?" Sirius hissed in the pairs direction as they ducked under the tables to avoid attracting attention from Flitwick who appeared to be reciting the fondly titled, 'Charms' song, a rhyme devised to supposedly help them remember the basic charms used in the end of year exams.

"Well Siri m'lad..." Peter began cheerfully, having gained reasonable control over his laughter and rising his head to stiffly stare the other boy in the eyes, without warning however he burst into peels of laughter and promptly fell right out of his chair.

"What are you laughing at?" Sirius demanded, his gaze shifting towards Remus who was just surfacing from beneath the table, "S-s-s-siri" he wheezed out, still caught up in his laughter before completely losing control upon finding Peter rolling across the ground clutching at his stomach.

"Well? Remy! What is it?".

"I-it's just.." the werewolf began as Lily glanced curiously to fix her eyes upon Sirius' face, without warning she too fell victim to the bizarre laughing disease that soon had James joining in with the hysterics. When the rest of the group proved they were beyond explanation, having been lost in hysterical laughter for the past five minutes Sirius found it necessary to search for someone not so blatantly insane.

When James sleepily yawned and lifted his head to begin chuckling to himself Sirius whirled upon him, "what's so damn funny?" He demanded irritably and was met with a wide grin from James.

"Someones stuck a ribbon in your hair Siri" James yawned out, managing to sound thoroughly consoling while disguising laughter behind his hands. Sirius blinked for several seconds at this proclomation, an eyebrow raising to meet his hairline before he snorted with disbelief, "that's what you're laughing at? A bloody ribbon?" he demanded with a hint of distaste lingering in his tone.

The other Marauders and Lily all nodded enthusiastically. "Moore must be losing his touch then... And you guys are completely nuts. Things have been to slow around here.."

*****

Peter Pettigrew had learned long ago to recognise the signs of when something bad was coming. The facts were that they usually involved one or more of the following; detention, probable expulsion and run-in's with Filch. None of which Peter was very fond of, so it came as no surprise that when the signs started showing, Peter would look for an escape route. 

Which explained why Peter was currently holed up in Marauder Headquarters with a large box of chocolate frogs and a few bottles of butterbeer, quite happily absorbed in one of the comic versions of Sherlock Holmes. Grinning widely to himself as he reached the end of the page Peter reached towards the box of chocolate frogs, quite content in his escape from certain peril (which could also be described as one of Sirius' 'plans') and his current hide-out. 

Current being that he would have to move soon to avoid being located, at times like these it wasn't wise to stay in the same spot for any length of time - that was a sure way to get yourself spotted. Glancing towards his wrist he confirmed it was about time he moved on to his next intended hide-away, tucking the comic under his arm he packed up the box of chocolate frogs and scooped the remaining bottle of butterbeer into his other hand.

Humming he waved in the direction of the surly looking painting on the wall and addressed him with a cheerful, "Seeya Marv".

"Young freeloader..." the portrait grumbled back peevishly as the smallest of the Marauders strode down the small passageway that led out of the hidden room. He glanced out of the opening as he carefully slid it open before taking off down the hallway at the fastest speed he could, heading automatically for the stairways that led towards the astronomy tower - an infamous part of the castle that wasn't often used except for 'nightly escapades' and the least likely place that his fellow Marauders would come looking for him.

In such a hurry was Peter, that he didn't even notice the widely grinning trio who were at present blocking his path. He let out a yelp as he collided head on with the bespectacled James Potter and was sent tumbling to the ground, his butterbeer, chocolate frogs and comic books going flying.

"There you are Pete" James wheezed as the other boy was hauled up and off of him this action was repeated on the taller boy. 

"Er... yeah. I was just looking for you..." Peter spoke up in false-cheer with a wide trying smile.

The others exchanged knowing looks before Sirius pounded the smallest Marauder on the back. "Good show Pete, you almost managed to lose us this time."

Peter let out a sigh and glanced at the lot of them, "let me guess. Lily told you where I was?" he spoke up and Remus grinned broadly.

The other three feigned innocence, Sirius whistling while James looked at the cieling, Remus still grinning somewhat was inspecting his fingernails with intense scrutiny. "Damn, I was so close this time" the smallest Marauder declared with a sigh before peering at Sirius expectantly. "Well, what's the plan then" he muttered defeatedly and Sirius beamed in response.

"Well Pete, it goes like this..."

******

"I can't believe I'm doing this.." came the disbelieving hiss from Peter as he crawled on hands and knees behind Sirius, who was in the same predicament as the priorly mentioned Marauder. "Shush Pete! They might hear us, I wanna know what those Slytherins were talking about...".

Remus stifled a snort of laughter and continued to crawl. The group were currently located deep inside the Slytherin commonroom, after finding an intriguing conversation they had decided that perhaps they should check out what the Slytherins in question had been talking about, all they had caught was 'Slytherin', 'Show' and 'secret passage from the commonroom'. 

Naturally Sirius had been intrigued by such a conversation, which explained why three of four Marauders were crawling along in the shadows while the fourth, wearing the invisibility cloak scouted ahead to see what all the fuss was about. They froze in the shadows as hurried footsteps zipped past with excited whispering, more Slytherins heading down the corridor.

"Hurry" Sirius hissed and the three hastened their speed down the corridor, resisting the urge to just get up and run they crawled as fast as their limbs would allow them. "You can't say that you aren't interested Pete" he added at the bitter muttering that came from the rear of the group.

Remus let out a gasp as they found themselves crawling straight into a wide, opened room that appeared to be set up exactly like a stage. "What the hell..." he hissed in awe as he slumped against the backwall to stare up at the magnificent spread of seating and the lit stage.

Sirius sank back beside his friend and also admired the view of the stage with a raise of an eyebrow, "I wonder what all this is for?" he muttered softly, a thud and whoosh of air was all that alerted them of James' presence before a perplexed looking head appeared out of thin air.

"From what I can tell they're preparing for some sort of show... Must be a Slytherin ritual by the sounds of things, the weirdest thing is that I can't see Malfoy or Snapes little group around anywhere. They wouldn't miss anything celebrating Slytherin though.. This is all very strange" James spoke up with a frown, tapping his chin with thought before glancing up at the stage as the surrounding lights dimmed.

"It's starting" Peter spoke up softly blinking slightly as music began to play.

Heavy green velvet curtains were drawn aside and a loud gasp could be heard from the back of the hall. 

"Oh my god".

It seemed that four Marauders had just seen a side of their Slytherin counterparts that they wished would have stayed hidden...

******


	33. Damn those Sordid Ravenclaws

Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Two: Damn those Sordid Ravenclaws..

A/n: 

The author is coming! The author is coming!

-coughs-. Yes, this chapter is dedicated to ROMM! -points at the chapter- Yes, you know what's coming -shudders violently- You have the power to disturb so greatly it's unnerving @_@; Hopefully this lives up to expectations! I've decided to skip the review responses this chapter, due to the fact that they took up most of last chapter and I don't wanna do that again! I shall resume them next chapter hopefully If I get a nice big decent chapter out ^-^;; So one big 'ARIGATOU!' to everyone annnnnnd Review!

******

In Lily Evans' humble opinion, the Gryffindor Common Room was much much to quiet. There was no boisterous wrestling, no loud singing and not even the tell-tale plucking of guitar strings from the window seats. It was set in her mind that the entire common room was completely devoid of Marauder interaction, something which left the whole place with an empty, serene and all around rather depressing aura to it.

Hunched over the extra-charms homework she had recieved on Friday morning for being late she allowed a small glance around the common room in hopes of spotting at least one of the group, not that she wanted to be distracted from her homework or anything... It was just so... quiet.

Idly twirling her quill through her fingers she cast a rather dark look in the direction of the group of her fellow second year girls before peering back down at her parchment with a frown. She still hadn't aquired the information as to who exactly had been the one to tamper with her alarm clock, but whoever they were were definitely going to be getting a nice new hex to match their shiny black eye.

Once again the lack of noise was disturbing her. It was just much to quiet to even consider trying to block out noise and do some real study, it was downright disturbing. Sighing she threw her quill down ontop of her parchment and gave a half-amused smile when it made a satisfying thunk and an indignant huff. 

Standing she began to pile the rest of her homework into her backpack, she could always do it tommorrow after all, besides all she really wanted to do was force Remus into singing her a song, or perhaps just listen to Sirius and James constantly argue and joke around about countless topics that really had no bearing at all on anything that would seem sensible to argue or joke about. Or perhaps she could convince Peter into reading aloud one of the Sherlock Holmes and laugh at his over-exaggerated accents and all around hilarious story-telling.

There was only one flaw in this little plan, the fact that all four of the Marauders were missing in action was taking a big chunk out of her plans for the night. Zipping up her backpack she slid it onto her back and stood moving towards the staircase which led up to the girls dormitories, humming the tune to another of Sirius' infectious Muggle Collection of Songs.

She had always found it strange that Sirius didn't seem to have any Wizarding Records in his collection, she had thought that growing up as a Wizard he would within reason have at least one record in his entire collection. Maybe those Wizarding bands weren't as good as the other girls had claimed at the start of the year when they had learned she was muggle-born.

Whatever it was, she was quite certain that she would have to ask Sirius sometime. With a sigh she pushed open the doorway which led into the Second Year Girls Dorm-room and shuffled towards her bed, her eyes narrowed somewhat as she saw one of her hangings had been half-torn away from it's rungs and moved forwards hurriedly.

Lily Evans' eyes widened as her face paled a few shades and dropped her backpack onto the ground. A soft gasp escaped her lips before she turned tail and ran, intent on finding the nearest prefect she could.

******

"It's starting" Peter spoke up softly blinking slightly as music began to play.

Heavy green velvet curtains were drawn aside and a loud gasp could be heard from the back of the hall. 

"Oh my god".

It seemed that four Marauders had just seen a side of their Slytherin counterparts that they wished would have stayed hidden. Sirius' eyes bulged half-way out of his sockets, threatening very much so in Remus' opinion to pop right out and start rolling around across the floor. Remus himself however, decided that he couldn't exactly talk himself, as his jaw had very narrowly missed crashing into the ground and he was quite sure that it was dislocated.

The sight before his eyes was one that made him wish he could burn the offending body parts right out of their sockets just so he would never have to see it again. For he was very sure that the sight that was displayed in front of him, was one that would see him in a Psychiatrists office in several years after displaying signs of mental illness.

Peter appeared to be in a league of his very own, his eyes were as wide as saucers and his face had paled considerably, his lips were trembling and occasionally the word 'mummy' could be made out from the ramble that was by now escaping his lips at a fast pace. James however appeared to have found something to his advantage in this grotesque display that was being paraded before them, as Sirius so mildly put it, for James Potter had in his possession a camera.

Now James wasn't exactly big on muggle devices (or professions for that matter) but he did know that photography was something he considered would be a lot of fun, so unbeknownst to his friends James had smuggled a camera into the oh-so-handy pocket sewn into the lining of his robes. James had made a habit of snatching quick photos of things while the others were pre-occupied and was a considerably good photographer. But James Potter couldn't be taken for a fool, and he had found a way to utilise this muggle tool for his own gain. 

Yes, James Potter had found that cameras were very useful in the art of blackmail. So right now, meant that he was in delighted spirits. For the sight infront of him was one that he would most likely find a large supply of photos for blackmail, something that was ever useful when dealing with Slytherins.

This was precisely why James Potter stood, grinning from ear to ear and produced a rather odd looking contraption that might have resembled a camera - had it not been so obviously magically enhanced that it no longer resembled anything other then what Sirius declared as a 'giant eye'.

Now it wasn't everyday that one of your friends suddenly produced a 'giant eye' from their robes, which may have been why Sirius made an effort of clapping his hands over his gaping mouth and pointing at James with stricken eyes, "Jimmy! What the hell are you doing!" he hissed violently as James waved him away.

"Shush! Someone will hear you" James retorted as Remus began to gingerly inspect his jaw, obviously fully intent on discovering whether he really had dislocated the offending joint.

Peter however was still pointing and stuttering at the stage, where it appeared on Lucius Malfoy had just taken the stage, this in itself would have been a surprise in itself, as Lucius Malfoy wasn't exactly the type to go 'nancing' around on stages. But the fact that really shocked the Marauders to the core was the clothing - or lack there of - that there adversary was so pointedly wearing - or rather not wearing.

Well, to be honest it wasn't as if Lucius Malfoy had just waltzed out onto stage wearing nothing but a tiarra, but in Remus Lupin's eyes it was definitely just as terrible. For Lucius Malfoy appeared to be wearing a killer set of heels and a disturbingly short dress. Now for the purposes of Remus' sanity, Remus began to rub frantically at his eyes, hoping against all hope that what he was seeing was some freakish nightmare that would most definitely end soon before the music cued...

Unfortunately for the werewolf it didn't appear that this was a nightmare, and it didn't look like he was going to be able to rub away the disturbing images anytime soon, as Lucius Malfoy had just taken the microphone - and aside from managing to smear some very pink lipstick across his cheek, began to sing, rather loudly - though to their surprise it wasn't all that off-key.

Now James had been snapping away on his camera like mad for the last few minutes, convinced that this was the perfect blackmail for use against 'dear ol' Lucy' but it didn't appear that this was going to end anytime soon. For as soon as Lucius began to sing loudly along to 'Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend' another rather unwelcome adversary came tearing onto the stage, fit with a pair of lethal looking red heels and a red-dress, complete with a rather large wig.

"Is-is-is-is-is-is" Peter began to choke out, pointing madly at the stage with fear evident upon his face. "IS THAT SNAPE!" Sirus cut him off with a horrified roar that had Remus tackling him to the ground and wrestling to clap a hand over the offending boys mouth. 

Fortunately it appeared that the crowd were to caught up in the brawl that was going on on the stage, for Severus Snape appeared to be clawing violently at Lucius Malfoys hands trying to obtain the microphone with fake nails painted a shocking shade of red. Now that the two were beginning to get rather agressive, and hollering at the top of their lungs the song was long forgotten and instead screeches of "I'm the lead! Give me that damn microphone back! Hey! OW!" were blasting out of the impressive speaker system that was set up around the strange stage.

It was of quite some surprise, after all the entire crowd, Marauders included, were quite enthralled with the whole fight, in a state of transfixed horror they were suddenly cut off when the lights suddenly cut off and there were sounds of a scuffle and loud cries echoing before after several minutes of outraged yells from various members of the Slytherin house a spotlight shone down on a sole person on stage. 

Now all four Marauders were completely aghast at the manically grinning - though immaculately made-up - figure of none other then their most 'favourite' Professor, a mop of curly hair was set atop his head - a very obvious wig which didn't seem to phaze the man in the slightest - thick, very pink lipstick was set onto his lips and heavily made up eyes gave him the appearance of - well exactly what the man was, a drag queen.

James was by now clicking like mad, as the glittering brilliant pink dress caught the light from the spotlight and the rhinestones began to reflect shafts of light into the crowd. Sirius let out a low wail of dispair and clutched onto Remus' arm and began to wrench him in the direction of the exit, Remus for his part didn't appear to have any objections and obligingly caught onto James' arm, ignoring the wildly flailing limbs that appeared to be using the 'giant eye' to take more photos for blackmail.

Peter in turn was already hot-footing it as fast as he possibly could away from the Slytherin Drag Review, there were some House Traditions that he definitely thought should be left to themselves. After all, if the Slytherins went as far as to dress in drag and put on performances, who knew what sort of sordid affairs that the Ravenclaws got up to?

******

Lily Evans slumped down on a sofa with a sigh, the continuous stream of teachers and prefects that were traipsing up and down the stairs to the Gryffindor Second Year Girls Dormitories was enough to make anyone dizzy, the constant questions that were being flung at her from all sides were making her head pound.

Ignoring the catty whispers that were being flung at her from the group of second year girls who were gathered nearby she allowed her head to sink into her hands. A shiver rolled violently up her spine as she watched Professor Dumbledore wearily trek back down the staircase with a grim expression on his face. "I suggest you get some rest Miss Evans" he announced gloomily.

The portrait hole burst open and four rather pale marauders came careening through the opening, James in custody of a camera while Sirius was pawing at his eyes mildly, all four however paused abruptly at the sight of the assembly of teachers and prefects that were all congregating around the staircase which led to the Girls Dormitories.

Spotting Lily in the midst of it all four made a beeline for the red-head, "Oi! Lils... What happened?".

The redhead turned her head slowly to stare up at the four boys, it didn't take much for James to notice just how pale her face was, and the tears that were beading in her eyes. "It- it's awful" she whispered finally.

******


	34. Howdy Angel, Where'd you hide your wings...

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Three: Howdy Angel, Where'd you hide your wings?**

**A/n: Okay, first up this chapter starts off decidingly depressing - a scary thought considering this story is supposed to be my comical release. Plus the fact that I haven't updated AGAIN in a while, but considering I have exams AGAIN starting in 4 days I don't particuarly have much time. The fact that this chapter turns abruptly almost psychotically random near the end is due to the fact that I just watched Dirty Dancing about a gazillion times, so you'll see some of that influence (mostly in the music) coming through plus I watched Stand By Me, but that'll probably not show any influence til NEXT chapter. But this Chapter is considerably longer then any of the latter ones so hopefully that makes up for the length of time it took me to write it! Okay, this chapter has a dedication and sadly enough it is another one that i'd prefer I did not have to make. But this chapter is for you Kim, hopefully you've found peace wherever you are now. Now onto Review responses before this AN get's decidedly depressing and drives you all awaaaaayyy from the psychotic author -sniffles- I've been described as mildly schizophrenic =S It ain't my fault i'm crazy! It's the damn family I tell you! They're all freakin' crazy.**

**Carolinus Took: **You're review was to the point in quick, so shall be my response. Look, am continuing!**  
UnicornJewel: **Another one with the EVIL all-caps -twitches- You almost made me cringe O_o; Glad to think you find the Slytherins amusing, I sure did ^-^;**  
Drama-queen: **you -MUST- know what happened to Lily, so I -MUST- update. -noddles- **  
Halley: **XD I'm glad I supplied you with disturbing mental images, it was truly the highlight of my day ^-^; I have a habit of scarring people for life, I wonder why that is....**  
vtangelchix: **Oooh yes, I'm glad you understand about the 'issues' concerning school. -cringes- I'm glad you refrained from insulting Poor Moore more then is humanly possible. -noddles- I'm sure he appreciated it to, in his own twisted, warped little way ;; **  
IcePrincess: **Shall hurry. look I'm typing like a maniac.. Lookit those fingers fly.. Lookit em go.**  
Kylie: **Eeeee you could be finding out what happened to Lily, but you know that you're reading this ^.~ Can't resist reading the rantings of a possible maniac - and future ruler of the world. Mwahah...hahah....hahah. Er.. Right. The idea for the drag review goes with full credit to ROMM! my faithful disturbing reviewer -grins- The girls got class, what can I say? You might see some other house traditions bought into light... Let's just say the Hufflepuffs aren't all the shy ol' duffers that they come across as ^.~**  
Slice-sama!: **XD.. mental images of Pepe 'l'peau or however you spell that damn skunks name @-@;; XD The idea is all ROMM's I just bought it to life ^-^; The girl has a disturbing mind. The 2nd year girls shall have to get their come-uppance at some point. And they shall, they shall! Waiiiiii. Now to get them sexy gryff's into revealing clothing... . Oh god I been watchin' to much dirty dancing, disturbing mental images @_@**  
Mwpp-lover: **Thanks for the compliments, us crazy people need all the scraps we can get o.o; Currently our fab four are in their Second Year. **  
BabyRed: **No prob, if I wasn't so busy myself I might have updated sooner. Oiii I should be studying right now actually ;; ahhhh hellllll.... Thanks. I think I like my portrayal of the guys too, James isn't quite arrogant enough yet but he'll get their, Remy isn't a complete dork, Siri isn't a prick and Pete isn't a snivelling spineless coward yet. But he shall be ^-^; Lolz Lotsa singing in this one, and mentioning of the rockin' werewolfs guitar playing skillz. Y'know, I always wondered how hot Sevvy's legs were =S And the teacher on stage was indeed Moore =P I couldn't see ol' potions man up there myself... had to torture Moore some ^-^ **  
LoonyLoopyLisa: **Awwwww go on, I know that you really WOULD enjoy seeing a Slytherin Drag Review =S **  
I give it all to Mr Black: **Oh wait.... No... Wait... Here it comes... *Goes all shoujo-eyed and lots of purdy hearts spring up* Love... the NAME! I s'pose you could say what Lils saw is worse =(**  
Romm: **Lmfao... I shoulda seen that coming. Talk about the irony... LoL you can set you're disturbing mind on full throttle if you wish to, I would enjoy revealing the Ravenclaws to be just as disturbing if not more..**  
TheSilverLady: ***Cackles* Oh but I'm 70% evil don't you know? Of course I leave cliffhangers, it's a tendency of mine when I just can't be bothered writing anymore and just leave it. But all strings are tied up in this chapter no worrys =P **  
WarriorGL: **XD You were uncannily close to the truth, that's for sure. Great minds think alike and all that... Oh I wouldn't put it past those sordid Ravenclaws to exceed the Slytherins in disturbingness.**  
Alesca Munroe: **Hmm.. I think you've read Price of Ice o_O; Well just to keep you on your toes... maybe...maybe not. =P **  
Daine Yuy: **Oops.. I have a habit of killin' my reviewers =S Oh I certainly could make this more disturbing... With Romm most likely planning more sordid ideas to scar the poor boys with this could turn very.. very bad =P **  
Flame Rhiannon: **XD Cliffhangers are my specialty.. Combo deal anyone?**  
The Mouse of Anon: **Youre almost as crazy as me O_O -twitches and peers at her snickering Security Guard- Looks like theres competition in the building .; Lol And the kindling thank you... WAHAHAHAHA o.o;**  
PhoenixTears: **You know... You could find out but right now you're reading this XD**  
Rena Lupin: **Oh you gotta be kidding me! Sevvy had it coming with his sexy legs'n'all... -sniggers- Damn straight Remy would look good.. he looks good in anything.. Simple enough. **  
SweetPi:** I'm writing! Lookit me go, I'm a MACHINE! Woooooooooo =P Lookit those fingers fly... Whatta hardout! -squeals- I gotsd a fan! I gotsd a fan! SO THERE ERIC! I HAVE FANS AN YOO DONT!

*****

The redhead turned her head slowly to stare up at the four boys, it didn't take much for James to notice just how pale her face was, and the tears that were beading in her eyes. "It- it's awful" she whispered finally. Sirius opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted a hand being clamped firmly over his mouth, he rolled his eyes backwards in an attempt to glare at the offending party and was met by a faintly amused werewolf.

A series of muffled words and exclamations followed before Sirius appeared to give up on a verbal lashing and opted for a more physical approach, without further warning he reared back a fist and gave a good solid punch to his friends stomach. This in turn was countered by a heavy cuff to the black-haired boys shoulder and the pair fell in a scrambling heap on the ground, flailing limbs waving madly through the air like some form of spastic cheerleader.

"Sirius Black! Remus Lupin!".

The sudden screech that met the boys ears was enough to make anyone wince and the Marauders even more so. For Professor Minerva Mcgonagall was not a person that you should care to cross and said Marauders had already crossed said woman more times then they cared to remember. 

So it was with horror-stricken thoughts that both Marauders scrambled away from each other and took up posts leaning against opposite ends of the couch a shaken Lily Evans was currently residing in, whistling in an innocent fashion as though their earlier escapades had been a figment of the Professors imagination. Now despite their valiant efforts to maintain completely innocent faces and the occasional hopeful glance that was shared the woman had swooped in with the foreboding presence of a vulture picking out it's prey and it seemed beyond hope that she would merely let them off.

"Lupin! Black! I expected better of the both of you. Carrying on like that in front of Miss Evans - she's had enough to deal with tonight. Come on you two you're coming with me".

The pair exchanged mournful glances before waving a solemn goodbye and being dragged off by their ears towards the portrait hole leaving behind two curious Marauders and a decidedly pale Lily Evans in their wake. Peering somewhat bemusedly after the retreating backs of his two friends James waggled an eyebrow curiously before shaking his head and flopping down on the couch beside Lily, fully intent on discovering just why half of Hogwarts' 'esteemed' faculty were presently combing the Gryffindor Tower.

"Lils.." he spoke up as Peter perched on the arm of the couch and retreated to his 'quiet' mode.

"What happened?" he continued staring curiously as Professor Luff swept past as fast he could towards the exit, only briefly casting a glare in James' direction.

When nothing but silence met the rest of his question James blinked and turned his head back towards the red-head who appeared to be flattening a non-existent crease out of her robes, her eyes fixed intently on the imagined crease with such intensity that Peter found himself double-checking to make sure that there really wasn't one there.

James blinked several times in obvious confusion, his eyebrows creating deep furrows in his forehead as he leaned towards her to peer over the rims of his glasses curiously, as though to make sure that she wasn't really asleep. Frustrated when the red-head didn't seem to take any notice of him he coughed loudly and repeated, "er.. Lils?"

Determinedly muttering about those 'useless gits' who had gotten themselves dragged off to detention - as the pair of them seemed a great deal better at talking to girls, especially Lily, James waved a hand in front of her face pointedly. With a tiresome drawl of,"Lillllllllllyyyyyyyy."

When the girl still didn't seem to respond to him at all James huffed loudly and leaned right over until his mouth was mere centimeters from her ear before shrieking with all the power in his lungs, "EVANS!!!!".

James grinned like a cheshire cat when the red-head let out a loud shriek and jumped near a foot in the air. Puffing his chest out like a Prefect with a new shiny badge he winked at Peter who made a point of rolling his eyes when his friend had looked away. Realising that he finally had Lily's attention he coughed slightly and felt himself begin to turn red, just as he was sure he was the same colour as the giant house banner that was pinned across the wall Peter chose to pipe up with, "what happened?.

".. Awful" was the soft whisper of response as the red-head continued to pick at her robes absently. 

James spoke up hurriedly, making sure to glare pointedly at Peter as though it were the smallest Marauders fault that he had turned into a christmas light for the previous minute or so "what's awful Lils?." 

A pair of large green eyes turned upon him quickly, pinning him firmly without any intent of doing so. "It's Jamie..." she mumbled out half-dazedly, watching a prefect as they hurried past avoiding her gaze for all he was worth.

"Jamie..? What about her?" 

The last words barely seemed to come as a whisper, the bitter twist of a smile dredging across her lips. 

"She's dead".

******

Sirius Black had decided for once in his life, that James Potter was completely and utterly barking mad. Out of his tree, nuttier then a fruitcake, mad as a hatter, cookier then a cuckoo clock, absolutely starkers.... Whatever you would call it, the Potter boy was most certainly it. For he had just chosen to tell him, Sirius Black that a member of his house (and year no less) was dead. 

Now it wasn't often that Sirius didn't believe James, although that couldn't be said for most people as James wasn't exactly considered a very trustworthy person and was in most peoples opinion to more likely be the one tripping you up then the one helping you up off of the floor. But some things were just to twisted to believe and this, Sirius had decided, was one of the times that his best friend had to be lying.

He had heard the faint gasp from his right and knew that Remus had heard the proclomation as well, and by the sounds of it had absorbed this obvious fraud as being true. Now Sirius could take a joke just as well as the next guy (probably a great deal better) but to go so far as to make anyone believe such a cruel joke was not in Sirius at all and the fact that James would allow Remus to believe such a terrible thing tended to make the hot-headed Black more then a bit angry.

So without any other thought then to set his friend straight before he further hurt anyone else with such a cruel story he pounced forwards and shoved him violently by the shoulders with a deafening growl of, "you bloody git! You don't joke around about things like that."

The bespectacled boy stumbled back a few paces before regaining his balance and steadying himself just in time to dodge another of his friends would-be pushes and watch the obviously angry form of his friend stumble past him, desperately as his friend once again wheeled upon him he called out "I'm not joking around Siri!" 

"That isn't funny you git!"

Another harsh shove sent the bespectacled boy sprawling onto the ground, by now starting to get a bit frustrated himself James retorted angrily with a sweep of his foot that sent Sirius himself tumbling to the ground, "I'm not joking! I'm being serious you prat!"

Silence struck the pair as a pair of footsteps thudded away with the whoosh of material, for several minutes the pair stared at each other from their fallen positions. Blue eyes staring with disbelief into troubled brown before comprehension hit the first, without another word the first regained his feet and took off in pursuit of the dissapearing footsteps.

Without another word the second slowly made his way to his feet, brushing grime from his robes before trudging quietly in the same direction the first had gone. There was something much to unnerving about the suicide of an intelligent, happy and future-minded girl - for the life of him he'd find out just why it didn't add up.

******

The absent plucking of guitar chords was all that met the ears of Sirius Black when he stumbled into the Boys Dormitory. His friends hangings had been hastily drawn as was evident by the amount of rungs that had been torn from the material. Sirius paused in his steps, listening to the faint muttering between the seemingly random plucking of strings and notes that cascaded through the air.

Listening carefully to try and catch the murmurings he noticed that the seemingly random notes seemed to blend together now and the words seemed to take form he couldn't help but smile slightly as he recognised the tune, "things are never gonna be the way you want, where's it gonna get you acting surreal? things are never gonna be quite what you want..".

Sirius stumbled as he tripped over a non-descript item lying across the floor. "Remy?" he choked out, realising that the thump resulting from his fall had more then likely been heard by the occupant of the bed.

The music came to a stop, followed only by a draining silence which left Sirius feeling both confused and anxious. Carefully he regained his feet and moved towards his friends bed, for several more moments there was only silence, a sound that Sirius was neither familiar nor comfortable with. "Remy? ...You alright?" he persisted.

"Just peachy" was the short, rather strangled response, half-muffled by the hangings that were drawn so tightly around the bed.

Sirius stared for sometime at the scarlet hangings that obscured his friend from view before carefully reaching out and drawing them aside. Sure enough his friend was sitting hunched over his guitar, a twisted little smile tracing a path across his lips as he glanced up to stare at his friend, forgetting to hide the signs of tears.

Awkward silence once again filled the room and Siris shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck and scuffing his sneakers across the ground. Glancing towards his friend carefully he mumbled out, "er.. Are you okay Remy?"

When all he got as a response was a small smile and a vague shrugging of shoulders Sirius flopped down on the bed beside him and focused his attention on the guitar. "What are you doing?" he spoke up in an attempt to divert his friends attention.

"Just messing around" was the quiet mumble back with amber eyes pointedly avoiding looking at his friends and staring intently at his hands as they resumed their grip upon the guitar.

He was silent for quite some time before absently plucking a string and glancing up at Sirius, "I was thinking maybe we should so something for Lils, y'know.. From what Jim was saying it sounds like she's pretty cut up."

Sirius glanced back at his friend from his own perch and allowing the beginning of a grin to shine upon his face before spreading his legs out and dropping back to rest on his elbows. Glancing up to peer curiously at his friend with striking blue eyes he gave a slight nod of his head. "Good idea Remy, what were you thinking we could do?"

Remus merely shrugged in an air of nochalance, peering down at his guitar and carefully plucking another string as though mulling the idea over in his mind. "I dunno.." he produced finally and Sirius gave a loud snort of laughter.

"Bloody hell Remy, carry on like that and Pete might have to give up his title as the stupid one" he muttered out and Remus gave a highly indignant sniff. "Why I have never been so insulted in my life Siri.. Comparing me to Pete of all people." 

Without another word Remus began to dap at his eyes with an imaginary handkerchief with a lock of mock-indignation painted over his face. Sirius grinned in response and locked an arm firmly around his friends shoulders while puffing out his chest, "well mate, at least one of us has something worth cheering about above his shoulders, for I have an idea. A marvellous idea, a jolly spiffing idea if I do say so myself.."

Remus pointedly arched an eyebrow as he was accustomed to do in such situations and let out a light, "oh? An idea is it? Well let's hear this marvellous idea of yours Siri, I should very much so like to know what gives you any right to claim anything above your shoulders is worth cheering about".

Siris beamed back at his friend, "well of course theres something worth cheering about Remy, there's my face" with that he made a show of winking cheerfully before snickering at his own joke.

Remus rolled his eyes in response oh-so-skillfully and peered expectantly at his friend, waiting ever-so-patiently for Sirius to elaborate. Sirius seemed to notice this after several moments filled with only his own snickering and cleared his throat with a purposeful air and finally spoke up, "well, being our wide-spread and rather fabulous variety of talents..-" Remus chose this moment to cover a fit of laughter with some rather false sounding coughing and Sirius shot him a glare. "- I think that as our talents seem to direct us towards a musical endeavour, that we should write Lils a song."

Sirius stared at his friend for some time as he mulled over the idea thoughtfully humming to himself and blinked at the slowly increasing furrow between his friends eyebrow. With this he hurriedly interrupted piping up with a useful, "plus for good measure we can get Jim an Pete to sing with us. You know, make it special and not just us two messing around like usual."

Remus seemed to accept this and smiled slightly as he leaned over the side of his bed, escaping Sirius' near choker hold on him and withdrawing the by now notorious sheets of paper that seemed to by now be held dearly in the hearts of all of the Marauders. "Well Siri, I suppose that it's a good plan - for you that it is - and I might just have the right song for it. Just need to get some help finishing off the lyrics is all...".

Sirius pointedly ignored the derogatary intent and grinned broadly, "I should be glad to help Lupin m'lad".

"Well then, it goes like this..."

*****

Sirius was already humming as they traipsed down to the greenhouses for their third lesson of the day. The sun was shining despite the implied season and nothing seemed to be able to dampen the Marauders spirits that day, even considering the very-recent happenings that had found one of their house-mates dead.

Lily was locked firmly in the center of their group and Sirius had just gripped Remus into joining him in the song while James cringed to his hearts content. The two were currently several steps ahead, clicking their fingers in unison and stepping in unison as they crooned loudly, "Stay on.. Just a little bit longer.. Please please please tell 'em where you're going to, No you're daddy don't mind.. and you're mommy don't mind, if we have another dance just one more time."

At this Sirius broke out loudly in a distinctly high voice that left Lily in giggling fits, "Oh won't you stay... Just a little bit longer".

It didn't seem that Siris was able to keep it up however as he broke into fits of laughter and collapsed against Remus who was presently letting out random deep choruses of, "STAY!". 

Sirius began pounding Remus on the shoulder when the werewolf broke off and began to snicker himself, James grinned broadly at the fact that his friends had stopped singing and was about to speak up when Peter let out a loud moan and pointed ahead of him, Remus glanced up from his laughter and jabbed Sirius in the ribs with a frown.

Lily had ceased in giggling and was staring with trepadition at the dark-cloaked ministry official that was currently talking to their herbology professor quietly and had glanced up at the last of Remus' 'STAY's'. Sirius furrowed his eyebrows and set his chin, it never mean anything good when the ministry began showing up at school, the last time that had happened had been when a kid in Hufflepuff had been told his Uncle and family had all been murdered and it hadn't taken a genius to figure out that it was the very same wizard that Sirius' father was tracking.

However Sirius was at present in to good of a mood to let a Ministry Official get him down and promptly regained a headlock around Remus' neck and veered towards Lily before throwing his other arm around her shoulders and letting out a raucous yell of, "Heeeeeyyyyy, hey baby. I wanna know-ow-ow, If you'll be my girl. Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy, hey baby, I wanna know-ow-ow If you'll be my girl. When I saw ya walkin down the street, I said that's the kinda girl I'd like to meet".

Remus broke out in good humor, obviously intent on distracting Lily from the official as well, "When you turned and walked away, that's when I wanna say, c'mon baby give me a whirl, I wanna know If you'll be my girl..".

Lily was steadily turning pinker and pinker as James let out a mortified moan of disgust and Peter began to mutter about the side-effects of having the weirdest friends on earth. It didn't take long for Sirius to grow tired of the song and break into another one which Remus promptly joined in causing Lily to slowly draw away with wide eyes.

"Love, love is strange. Lot of people.. Take it for a game. Once you get it, you never wanna quit. After you've had it, you're in an awful pit.. Many people don't understand, they think loving is money in the hand. You're sweet loving is better then a kiss, when you leave me, sweet kisses are missed.."

Sirius began to immitate an electric guitar loudly before grinning at Remus who grinned back as he called out loudly, "Oh Sylvia...". Sirius replied in a girlish voice, "yes Mickey?". "How do you call you're loverboy?". "C'MERE Loverboy..". "And If he doesn't answer?". "OH Loverboy..". "And If he still doesn't answer...?". "I simply say.. Ohh babbbbyyyyyy, My sweeeet babbbyyy, You're the one."

The two didn't notice that the other three were shrinking away from them when they collapsed on the ground clutching their stomachs as tears of laughter rolled down their faces. Lily stared nervously from the pair on the ground to James and then Peter, "a-are you sure they aren't... you know... cracking into the teachers confiscated illegal substances cupboard. 'Cause... that is just not normal..."

James nodded his head firmly in obvious agreement. Pushing his glasses back up his nose and ruffling his hair at the back of his head in an attempt to make it even messier then it already was, "believe me, you don't even know the half of it" he grunted out shaking his head as Sirius let out a loud crow of, "Sylviaaaaaa."

"I think I prefer it that way" Lily replied timidly peering owlishly at the pair as they regained their feet and began to stagger towards the Greenhouses still laughing.

******

Sirius nodded toward Remus as he carefully stroked a hand over his guitar before glaring at James pointedly when the boy muttered beneath his breath savagely, Lily peered curiously over the group before sinking back into the couch she had been set in with instructions that if she moved they would superglue her to it.

Sirius beamed with satisfaction as he counted off to them, James and Peter exchanged glum looks before taking up the tune with a half-hearted backup rythm. "Babadabadoom, babadabadoom, babadabadoom badadada. Babadabadoom, babadabadoom, babadabadoom badadada. Babadabadoom, babadabadoom, babadabadoom badadada. Babadabadoom, babadabadoom, babadabadoom badadada." 

Remus began to strum on his guitar ignoring the resentful looks being sent his way from James and Peter before Sirius took up the verse. "Hey I gotta lot of faith in ya, I'll stick with you kid that's the bottom line. Hey ya have a lot of fun don't ya? Hey you have a lot of fun don't ya, and living with you is a ball of a time."

Sirius kicked Peter lightly in the back of the leg when the other didn't seem to want to co-operate and the boy frowned before continuing on from Sirius, "Hey beauty when the mood gets you down, Your bottom lip's near dragging on the ground, That's when I gotta play the clown for you, Black humour made you kick your blues."

Happy to have had his turn over with Peter grinned as Sirius and Remus both tuned in for the chorus, "Howdy Angel, Where did you hide your wings, Her love shines over my horizon- she's a slice of heaven, Warm moonlight over my horizon- she's a slice of heaven."

Grinning slightly Remus kicked James in the leg and the boy glowered at him before resuming the verse, "Hey I gotta lot of faith in ya, I'll stick with you kid that's the bottom line. Hey ya have a lot of fun don't ya? Hey you have a lot of fun don't ya, and living with you is a ball of a time."

Remus promptly took over with a wink in Sirius' direction as James sulked pointedly, "Hey beauty when the mood gets you down, Your bottom lip's near dragging on the ground, That's when I gotta play the clown for you, Black humour made you kick your blues."

Sirius joned in loudly and enthusiastically as they once again reached the chorus and Lily began to turn the same colour as her own fiery hair. "Howdy Angel, Where did you hide your wings?, Her love shines over my horizon - she's a slice of heaven, Warm moonlight over my horizon- she's a slice of heaven."

James and Peter witheringly resumed their backup singing and Remus finished strumming his guitar triumphantly high-fiving Sirius as the pair of other Marauders finished their unenthusiastic back-up and Lily clapped politely in response trying valiantly to hide her flaming face behind her hair.

When Sirius divebombed onto the couch beside her and began to ruffle her hair violently she let out a loud yelp and began to smack him for all she was worth. Remus grinned broadly at a rather sulky looking James and rolled his eyes, "why don't you go save her from the dreaded Sirius then?"

"Bite me Lupin" James muttered back crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air. "Could be bad for your health" Remus replied sharply and James' eye twitched before he allowed himself to grin and clouted his friend over the head. 

James stoutly replied as he straightened and dodged a swipe from the werewolf, "next time don't include me on your singing exploits". Peter nodded his head wildly indicating his support of James' proclamation and Remus stuck his tongue out in unison with Sirius who let out a loud wail of, "oh but you never support us poor tortured artists.."

Lily snorted with laughter at the proclomation, "I'd hardly call either of you artists..." she muttered and recieved a scandalised stare from Sirius. "But.. me 'n Remy are celebrated musicians Lils..".

Remus flopped down on Lilys other side and stared at her with the largest puppy-dog eyes known to man. With a visible cringed she covered her eyes and took off screaming for the portrait hole. Sirius and Remus both exchanged puzzled looks before grinning as Remus spoke up, " oh Sylviaaaaa...".

James and Peter let out loud wails and took off for the portrait hole in pursuit of Lily as Sirius cried back loud enough to turn the heads of a group of tortured third years on the other side of the common room, "Yes Mickey?".

"How do you call your lover boy?"

******


	35. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Four: We wish you a Merry Christmas...**

**A/n: **Aaaaaaaaah! 300+!!!!! Reviewers are my most favouritest peoples in the world. *Goes all shoujo-eyed and swooooooooooons* Aiight, in celebration of the 300+ review hit, I won't do one of those terribly long AN's that seem to come naturally for me .;; Plus I dun think I got any terribly inquisitive questions in my reviews neither, so it's all gooooood. Oh! for the songs used in this chapter, the first (which is the same as the one Remy-baby sung at the concert ma bob) is, Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World and the second is Once in a Lifetime - Johnny Rzeznik. Now that that's out of the way, prepare for Christmas Fever... Er.. Or as far as I could stand to write. This stories almost been going a whole year @_@;; A tiny slight Shounen-Ai-ish warning for this chapter, couldn't even really be deemed worth 'warning' you about really =( Yiss Yiss. Oooh and yes, the songs were from Dirty Dancing from last chapter =S I thought I wrote that in that hellishly long AN.. aww hell this is getting long, so Go Forth Gundam Team! O_o

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Weeks seemed to pass like a blur for Lily Evans following Jamie Baker's supposed suicide. She had found herself unconciously distancing herself from the Marauders, for some reason their attempts to cheer her up just made her wish they'd never tried. It seemed to her that as time at school went on that the four boys heads were swelling uncontrollably, in particular she had noticed it in James and she could barely stand to keep herself from trying to pop them back down to size.

The only Marauder she could find herself semi-standing to be around during the last few days in particular had been Remus and it seemed to her that even he was changing right before her eyes. This was precisely why she found herself bustled in the middle of a group of Ravenclaws who had befriended her on the very first train-ride to Hogwarts. 

For some reason the clusters of holly strung up in the corners and the golden baubles crisscrossing the ceiling had done nothing to cheer her up this year as the festive season usually did, she was only glad that she had decided to go home for Christmas this year and would be leaving only the next day.

She was aware that Sirius had invited Remus to stay at his house for the christmas holidays and that James and Peter were also returning home and it amused her somewhat that Hogwarts would be desperately quiet in their absence. For some reason the trivial talk of the Ravenclaw girls was washing straight over her head, and it was only when she found a large majority of eyes fixed upon her that she realised she hadn't contributed to the conversation in ten minutes.

Turning pink in response she began to nervously laugh with a mutter of, "sorry."

A girl with two french-plaits bouncing on her shoulders rolled her eyes and let out a faint groan that could barely be heard above the other whisperings of the library. "We were just saying Lils, that you should do something with your hair. It's so pretty" another girl intervened with a sharp glance in the girls direction.

The girl, who had been on the very first train-ride to Hogwarts winced as a sharp elbow was shot to her ribs and a hiss of "Kerry!" came from the girl next to her. 

Lily turned an even deeper shade of pink and shrugged as the girl who had spoken almost immediately dragged her chair behind Lilys and straddled it before combing her fingers through the thick fiery red tresses. "Can I do your hair?" she spoke up almost pleadingly as girls all around Lily began to discretely shake their heads or mouth warnings at her. 

Lily gulped loudly as a exclamation of "yes!" echoed from behind her and squeesed her eyes shut with a grimace forming on her face. It couldn't possibly be as bad as the girls were insinuating could it?

*****

Remus Lupin was at present the littlest bit concerned, no, to be precise he was absolutely terrified and Sirius Black for the life of him couldn't understand why. The pair of Marauders were leaning in near silence against the train platform in Hogsmeade, where they were to catch the Hogwarts Express to London to meet Sirius' father at the station before continuing on to the 'Black Manor' as Sirius had dubbed it.

Every now and then Remus would omit an odd half-growling squeaking sort of sound before snapping his mouth shut again when he would get odd-looks from passers-by or his companion. He couldn't quite explain why he was so nervous, after-all he had met Sirius' father before, or perhaps it had been the oh-so-trite mentioning that they would be visiting Sirius' grandparents.

Now Sirius had never spoken freely of his grandparents before which had been why Remus had been so surprised that they would be 'visiting' them as they didn't appear to be his friends favourite people in the world at all. In fact by all accounts it would seem they were in Sirius' words himself, 'right-royal assholes'.

Remus had never heard much about the British Wizarding Families as his family had never associated in great depth with that society before, they had been Beauxbeutons Graduates for countless generations - until of course his little 'condition' had led him to be rejected with a difinitive "NO" from the school that had schooled countless Lupin's since the schools establishment.

But being friends with the sons of two of the most esteemed of high-class Wizarding Society had brought to his attention some of the more difinitive details of the Blacks and the Potters. For one it appeared that the name 'Black' wasn't quite so misplaced upon Sirius' family as one would have thought, from what James had told him and snippets of mutterings from Sirius his father had been the only decent wizard to come out of the family for countless generations - him and Sirius' cousin Andromeda that was.

Remus had been nonplussed to find out some of the less enthused qualities that were shared by the Black family, one of the pure-blood extremists, not at all fond of 'half-breeds' - Remus felt his chest clench convulsively - and by a few snippets of hints Malfoy had been dropping they hadn't been afraid to prove their point.

Remus could feel his stomach twisting and knotting itself into a neat little ball as he twisted the straps of his backpack between his fingers, looking away for some sort of distraction his face brightened considerably upon finding such a distraction, a fiery-head of bright-red hair was winding its way through the crowd towards them and moments later Lily Evans had burst through the crowd. 

Remus had noticed of late that Lily didn't seem to want to hang out with them as much, infact he had a strong feeling that she had been avoiding them a great deal, a fact that had confused him greatly. She waved brightly however and walked over towards them, already dressed as they were in muggle clothing.

Sirius waved back, glad of the excuse to stop standing like a stone statue which was frozen against the wall and pushed himself off to stand up straight, rubbing his arms with gloved hands. "It's blimmin' freezing" he spoke up upon her arrival and she grinned back, looking distinctly snug in several layers of wool and a thick sherpa jacket.

Remus narrowed his eyes somewhat suspiciously at the way her hands were so 'innocently' clutched behind her back and began to shuffle sideways, the crunchy remains of the latest snow still evident in patches across the grass surrounding the station. "Wouldn't y'say Remy?" Sirius added up, glancing towards his friend for support only to find him edging away from him.

"Remy? Where'r'ya going? Remy? REMY?"

A satisfying splat filled the air as the mushy wet snow collided with the side of Sirius' face and a beaming Lily Evans took off through the crowd giggling like mad with a yell of, "Merry Christmas Remus! Sirius!".

Sirius let out a wail of despair as he pawed with gloved hands at the freezing mush that was sliding down the collar of his jacket and began swatting it off of his face as Remus laughed along to Lily's retreating giggles. "Why didn't you warn me?" the black-haired boy sulked with a half-hearted frown in Remus' direction.

"Because then she would have thrown it at me" was the collected reply as Remus fought to gain control over his laughter and grinned broadly back at his friend who pulled a face at him in response.

"Bloody lucky Jim is, his parents sending the bloody 'butler' to come and pick him up. I swear, one of these days his heads going to get so big he won't be able to fit inside that house of his" Sirius muttered distractedly as he rubbed at his cold-numbed cheek and shivered visibly.

Remus rolled his eyes evidently and returned to his leaning spot against the wall replying cooly, "not that I don't agree with you Siri. But if you're that cold maybe you should have worn more clothes."

The boy in question grumbled before leaning against the carefully balanced guitar case that he had been carrying, pulling a distinctly sulky face he glanced back towards the train-tracks hopefully with a pronounced grimace, "you'd think that the driver would at least be on time - he only has to drive that train six times a year."

"It's eight actually" Remus replied absently before beginning to humm to himself, the earlier knots in his stomach beginning to writhe again as he stared at the seemingly endless grey sky. He nearly jumped when Sirius punched him in the arm and scowled pointedly lifting a hand to rub his arm and raising an eyebrow questioningly at the innocent grin he got in response. 

"I was just seeing whether you were still awake or not - thought you might have hypothermia or something." 

Remus rolled his eyes and sniffed loudly peering out of the corner of his eyes eerily at his friend who flinched visibly at the odd show of dry sarcasm that was let loose soon after, "oh, how thoughtful of you Siri, maybe next time I think you've got concussion I'll smack you on the head a few times just to make sure.."

Sirius grinned back at his friend who fought valiantly to keep a straight face before resuming the idiotic grinning that often came about when he was in Sirius' presence. Soon enough the train came steaming into the station, the brilliant scarlet paint standing out vividly against the snow-streaked landscape and the picturesque little village.

Sirius grinned widely upon it's arrival and swung his backpack onto his shoulders before hoisting the guitar case under his arm as Remus lazily straightened and retrieved a second bag from his feet. "It's about time it showed up" Sirius commented loudly recieving a loud cheer of, 'Hear Hear!' from a group of fifth years who were already clustered around the door.

Sirius grinned smugly at Remus before loftily swaggering towards the doors with Remus shaking his head in mock-disgust behind him. Even Remus couldn't deny however, that the wave of warmth that washed over them upon entering the carriage was not welcome and he began to smile again inspite of himself as he followed Sirius down the train in search of a 'suitable' compartment as Sirius had announced.

Remus was thankful when Sirius finally decided upon a compartment that was good enough for him and followed his friend inside, flopping down on a seat as he chucked his bags onto the luggage rack and stretched his legs out across the seat. Sirius in turn pulled a face at his friend and swung his own bags and Remus' guitar case up onto the rack and flopping back on the other seat.

They sat in silence for several moments before Sirius chose to break the silence with a loud and distinctly abrupt, "this is boring".

"I think you've just struck gold Siri" the werewolf yawned back with a half-glance in his friends direction to find him pulling a face at him. "We've got a funny guy over here.." Sirius retorted with a grin and Remus snorted loudly. "0800-FunnyGuy" he replied in a drawl and Sirius snickered appreciatively.

With this in mind, Sirius prepared for his response by adapting a very wheezey, grandpa-ish voice and rasping out, "you're ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower Lupin". Remus snorted loudly with laughter and was abruptly cut off by the screech of the door opening.

"Excuse me for interrupting your... moment" came a vague drawl as though the person in question was distinctly bored to be there. "- But I thought I should inform you Black, that at least some of your family has proper Wizarding Pride." At this a smug smile formed upon the pale distinctly pointed face of Lucius Malfoy. "It seems that my family are to be attending you're grandmother's for Christmas."

He didn't stay for long but by the time he had left Sirius was already turning scarlet, his hands shaking violently and anger was seething violently in his previously laughing eyes. "That stupid old hag" he hissed with such venom that Remus was almost shocked, having never seen Sirius so angry.

"The Malfoys! The god-damned Malfoys.. They're about as deep in the dark arts as they come!" he was muttering wildly beneath his breath, his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were turning chalk-white and his face was growing quite near scarlet. Remus was quite sure that he had never seen Sirius working himself so deep into a rage before and it scared him that he was steadily growing more and more angry.

Deciding that he had gone far enough Remus determinedly regained his feet and laid a hand calmly upon his friends shoulder, what he hadn't been expecting was the flying arm that caught him across his chest and sent him stumbling backwards. Swearing aloud with surprise he realised that Sirius' eyes were now fixed on him and were shedding anger like a snake sheds it's skin, his face was paling dramatically and his eyes were distinctly round.

"Bloody hell.." he muttered aloud staring wide-eyed as Remus absently rubbed at his chest where the fist had hit and almost-casually raised an eyebrow at his friend. A nochalant shrug escaped the werewolf as he gulped away the amount of hurt that was bordering on the surprise that was threatening to seap through his calm, "you punch like a girl Black" he declared finally with a shadow of a smile twinging his lips.

Sirius it seemed took a good few moments to register exactly what it was that the werewolf was saying before he let out a yell of indignation and launched himself at the werewolf, "you shall pay for that Lupin!" he declared wildly as the pair landed with a thud on the compartment floor and begin to wrestle wildly across the ground.

"Not with the way you hit Black" Remus retorted through his teeth as he knocked Sirius off of him but was caught by a hand gripping his arm and catapulted into a roll over his friend.

"You're cruisin' for a bruisin' wolf-boy" Sirius crowed back accompanied by a raucous battle cry and a loud thump as the pair collided with the side of a seat. Sirius stared in surprise down at his friend, frozen in mid-roll by a sudden barrier thats only purpose, in Sirius' eyes, seemed to have been to put him in such an uncomfortable situation.

For some reason he could feel the back of his neck heat up and knew he was far to close to his friend for it to feel as comfortable as it currently did. He could smell a faint wash of marmalade on Remus' breath and wondered himself why he hadn't moved an inch. He found himself studying his friends amber eyes and wondering how he possibly could have missed the flecks of gold that gave his friend a slight edge of danger - the signature of a dormant wolf.

He realised with a sudden jolt that he had been moving steadily closer and hurriedly flung himself backwards and away from his friend to sink back against the other seat, eyes flying towards the cieling and occasionally flickering towards his friend who was staring with unnerving intensity at him. It took several minutes before Remus carefully shifted, standing and brushing his clothes off with a shaken mumble of, "you still punch like a girl Siri."

Sirius slowly regained his feet and peered at his friend carefully before defiantly speaking up with as much of his usual pluck he could summon, "oh.. and you think your punchings any better wolf-boy?" 

Remus attempted one of his usual laughs of response but found his voice was shaking so badly that it sounded strangely like a hyena. He stopped and fell silent again. Carefully lifting his guitar case down from the rack and flipping it open as Sirius flopped down on the opposite seat and peeked cautiously at him in the pretenses of staring out the window.

Remus himself sank down onto a seat and glanced pointedly at his friend, willing away the brilliant shade of rose that his cheeks had suddenly flamed up to and drew out the top stack of papers that were messily strewn through the bottom of his case. He shook his head abruptly and began to strum lazily upon his guitar before slowly relaxing as the music filled the otherwise silent compartment.

Without warning his lazy strumming became a great deal heavier and faster, at a wild pace that caused Sirius to give up his pretenses of glancing out the window as he recognised the song as the one Remus had sung last at the competition in the Summer Holidays.

"_Are you gonna live your life wondering, standing in the back looking around.._" he trailed off as his voice faded and he glanced casually towards his friend, "are you going to make me sing by myself or what?" he declared boldly and Sirius raised an eyebrow before shrugging and picking up where Remus had left off.

"_Are you gonna waste your time thinking, how you've grown up or missed out..._" 

Remus grinned at his progress and began to sing again, easily keeping tune with Sirius' own voice. "_Th-th-th-things are never gonna be the way you want, where's it gonna get you acting surreal? Th-th-th-things are never gonna be quite what you want, even at 25 you gotta start sometime... I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go. All I need is just to hear a song I know, I wanna always feel like part of this was mine, I wanna fall in love tonight."_

_"Are you gonna live your life, standing in the back looking around. Are you gonna waste your time, gotta make a move or miss out. S-s-s-someones gonna ask you what it's all about, stick-around nostalgia won't let you down. S-s-s-someones gonna ask you what it's all about, what you gonna have to say, for yourself? I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go. All I need is just to hear a song I know, I wanna always feel like part of this was mine, I wanna fall in love tonight."_

Remus didn't seem to notice that Sirius had stopped singing and seemed quite contented to merely watch his friend as he closed his eyes and continued to sing loudly along with his guitar, "_our house in the middle of the street - why do we ever meet, starvin' my rock'n'roll fantasy. Don't stop, don't let go, why do we ever part, kickstart my rock'n'rollin heart. I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor I'm good to go, So come on baby sing me somethin' that I know. I wanna always feel like part of this was mine, I wanna fall in love tonight. I wanna always feel like part of this was mine, I wanna fall in love tonight.."_

The song trailed off to a close and Remus didn't appear to notice that Sirius had stopped singing long ago or didn't care, because almost immediately he began to strum again. "_You keep on movin' but your old lifes waitin', you take your chances on the game you're playin'. Oh you know you found the one, you, really, need. 'Cause it only comes round once in a lifetime, only comes down once in a lifetime, only comes round once in a lifetime, yeah.."_

*****

Remus Lupin carefully shuffled through the full-to-bursting station, his eyes locked firmly on Sirius' head so as not to lose him. Currently they were dodging, ducking and dancing their way through the compact crowd full of dazzlingly happy families and festive cheer.

The train ride had gone smoothly after the incident with Malfoy and Remus was quite sure that the awkward phase had quite passed, for now that was, but at present he found that his friend was quite intent on finding his father amidst the bustling crowds of Platform 9¾.

It had been only half an hour ago that the snow had begun to fall again and was quite pleasantly settling on any surface it possibly could. Remus swatted haphazardly at a particular flake that had landed on his nose and was beginning to melt before casting a sideways glance at his friend. He could practically feel the excitement radiating from his friend and felt slightly guilty for the sudden swishing movements his stomach seemed to be making.

He felt a sudden tug on his arm and grinned sheepishly as Sirius raised an eyebrow at him, he had nearly walked straight into one of the platform walls. They were distracted however when a loud yell of, "SIRIUS!" came barreling through the air to assault their ear-drums and Sirius let out a low groan.

"My Aunt Penny" he hissed at Remus in explanation and jabbed a thumb in the direction the noise had come from. Sure enough Penelope Morag, another year older and as sharp looking as ever was standing beside a faintly amused looking Oliver Black who was taking the time out to rub at his abused hearing organs.

Sirius grabbed his friend by the elbow and began to weave and shove his way through the crowd in an effort to get towards his family, Remus winced as he accidently shoulder-swiped a first year and let out a fleeting yell of, "sorry!"

They skidded to an abrupt halt within centimeters of colliding with the pair of amused looking adults that they had been in pursuit of and Sirius beamed broadly up at his father. "'Lo Dad" he exclaimed cheerfully before glancing towards his Aunty and nodding again, "'lo Aunt Penny".

Remus shifted uncomfortably, readjusting his grip on the guitar case that he now carried, having swapped it with Sirius for the lighter second bag. He smiled weakly when two sets of eyes came to a rest on him and carefully added a, "merry christmas" sounding particuarly meek even in his own ears.

He swiped a hand through his hair in an attempt to rid it of the fluttering snowflakes. "Remus wasn't it?" Sirius' father spoke up cheerfully before clapping the boy heavily on the shoulder, "merry christmas to you too".

*****


	36. Part One: God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Five:   
Part One: God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs.**

**A/n: ***Twitches* I didn't think that it was that noticable .;; But I suppose everybody has different standards and the like. I shall still refer to the little incident as 'tiny slight shounen'ai' however =P CAUSE I CAN!!!. Er, You'll have to excuse the slight.. insanity? I'm worse then usual due to the fact that I've got a full-blown case of Cabin Fever. I just had my LAST PRACTISE EXAM -the dreaded science exam- and have gone completely a-wall =S Gomen Gomen Gomen. And a subliminal message to whoever set off the fire-alarm in the middle of it, 'Shot Buddy!' Bweeeeeeeeeeeeeee =S and Cathy-Bloom being the idiot she is, instead of cramming all she bloody can into her brain the night before, decided to go watch Pirates of the Caribbean for the fourth time.. I'm possibly the stupidest person alive. *twitches* This chapter features, as probably gathered from the title, the most dreary Grandmother Black =S Oiii back away from the creature of Evil. And Just for Carolinus Took, I let Moore have a little roam at Christmas Time =P The Siri/Remy is still unfortunately a long time coming - I couldn't take it anymore I tell you ;; I want third year now, so I can 'legally' by my own big fat mouth begin the slashyness. Though it won't be huge even then =S Must have a build-up. Oiiiii. So here we have it, the beginnings of a Christmas that will make you appreciate how normal you're own familys screaming matches are at that wonderfully 'festive' time of year.

Okay, Apologies now! I was going to upload this last night... but FF.net has issues with me apparently and wouldn't let me. Then I realised it was to big and had to split it into two parts and it still wouldn't upload, so yes, am updating now, rather then then. Anyways, enjoy.. I tried to keep this as pain-free as possible.

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James Potter sank boredly back into the thickly cushioned seats of the seemingly normal car that he had found waiting for him at Hogsmeade Station along with the Potter's 'butler' who was really just their House-Elf dressed in disguise so that Muggles wouldn't think anything of it - though, James had mused that the Elf definitely had little to no expertise in the art of disguise.

The car itself was currently steering it's own course towards James' home leaving the House Elf to sit up the front and stare with rapture through the back-seats at James. Grimacing distinctly as the radio which had been tuned to WWN began blaring out a particuarly merry version of, 'God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs' which somehow seemed only to worsen his mood.

At first James had been reasonably excited to be going home for Christmas, despite the fact that he just 'knew' that his parents would be holding one of their yearly Christmas Dinner Parties that involved inviting a large amount of Ministry Members who would stand around the sitting room drinking firewhiskey and sherry while discussing the most inhumanely boring things in the entire planet. 

James despised these gatherings beyond all comprehension and usually managed to get out of it by disappearing to Sirius', but this year his father had told him he was not by any means allowed to go. Or rather he had passed the message onto the House-Elf who was currently staring at him who had in turn relayed it to James. He knew for a fact that Sirius and Remus would not be attending any such stupid gatherings and was silently fuming at the fact that he would have to endure the horrendous atrocities that his parents called Christmas Parties.

Shooting a half-hearted glare towards the House-Elf who had relayed the bad-news he let out a loud huff and turned his head to stare out the window with a scowl in place. His Christmas holiday had only just begun and already he was wishing that he had never left Hogwarts in the first place.

*****

Remus Lupin hadn't know what to expect when he had arrived at the 'Black Manor' on the outskirts of London, however he certainly hadn't expected to find a woman he had never seen before screaming at the top of her lungs and chasing what appeared to be a stray cat with what appeared to be a broomstick.

Remus rubbed blinkingly at his eyes before glancing towards Sirius with a raised eyebrow, following suit as Sirius opened the door and climbed out of the car Remus stared in confusion at the woman as she dissapeared from view around the corner of the house, her screaming (which Remus was sure could be heard several continents away) carrying with a vengeance on the wind. 

Remus glanced in bewilderment towards Sirius who was rubbing his head thoughtfully, before glancing towards Sirius' father who was muttering something about 'that poor cat'. When once again the woman rounded the corner, now having discarded the broomstick and waving a wand wildly through the air as it shot out bright sparks Sirius let out a piercing whistle to which Remus had to fight not to cover his ears.

The woman paused in her tirade against the poor animal, whose fur was now standing straight on end and had streaked away and jumped the fence at a speed that made it seem like a blur. 

She turned sharply on her heel to stare non-to-happily at the group that seemed to have just shown up from out of nowhere. Remus shifted somewhat unnerved by the piercing stare that was currently inspecting nearly every inch of him and glanced towards Sirius in search of some form of mercy.

It seemed however that Oliver Black got there first, as he cautiously spoke up with a hint of confusion in his voice, "er... Lucy?"

Remus could feel his eyebrow begin to twitch convulsively, a habit that he'd seemed to pick up from being subjected to Professor Luff's classroom. Sirius seemed to notice this and begin to snicker behind his hand inspite of himself before finally the woman spoke up, her eyes sharply still locked upon Remus. "You must be Remus."

Despite the smile that was now painted on the womans face Remus couldn't help but notice that her tone was slightly frosty, he glanced towards Sirius who was observing his mother with a thoughtful frown before starting as a hand suddenly clapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon let's take your stuff up to my room," Sirius declared seeming decidedly more bright then he had earlier and raced around to the boot of the car and began heaving bags and Remus' guitar case out.

Remus followed feeling distinctly self-conscious as he took both his guitar case and a bag and followed Sirius into the house. The pair traipsed up a set of stairs and Remus lazily followed Sirius down a small hallway and right into Sirius' room. Upon entering Sirius gave a loud and disgruntled groan, "she's cleaned up again" he wailed turning towards Remus with a distinctly sulky expression in place on his face.

******

Sirius Black grinned giddily at the group of slightly unnerved muggle carollers who were valiantly attempting to continue singing as Sirius waggled his eyebrows impressively at them. Behind Sirius, Remus had appeared and didn't appear to have any objections to trying to distract the carollers from their given duty.

"Oh, christmas tree.. er.. christmas ... um..... Tree!"

Sirius began to snigger as the carollers appeared to become flustered and Remus grinned almost sympathetically at the group as they desperately tried to redeem themselves. ".. You little prats!" the head-caroller finally exploded when Sirius began to mimic him complete with hand gestures.

Sirius shot a glance at Remus nervously before the pair as one took flight down the street, ducking as the man in question began to throw objects at their retreating backs. "Christmas is a time for forgiveness!" Sirius called loudly over his shoulder as the pair barely managed to skirt past a stand filled to bursting with potatoes. The pair were laughing maniacally as they escaped the wrath of the angry Chrismas Caroller and once deciding they were a safe distance away high-fived each other triumphantly. "Okay, how many is that for today?" Sirius inquired professionally.

Remus who was readjusting his scarlet and gold Gryffindor scarf glanced up to grin broadly at his friend before carefully counting off on his fingers as he spoke. "I believe that would be three groups of Carollers, one fake Santa Clause and five pissed off Santa's little helpers" Remus supplied cheerily, his face distinctly pink from a combination of the crisp winter air and all the running they had had to do that day, "nine." 

"Y'know Remy, we could easily outstrip these guys for busking" Sirius declared with a hint of pride and a hint of plotting, his fingertips danced thoughtfully across each other and a tiny spark was beginning to shine in his eyes.

"Not christmas songs Siri" Remus whined. "We have to suffer enough with them on every damned radio station in the country! Even the french radio stations are playing them!" Sounding distinctly disgusted by the prospect of singing the mortifying Christmas Carols that seemed to haunt his every Christmas Shopping Expidition Remus stuck out his bottom lip and folded his arms with an impressive pout. 

"Just a thought Remy" Sirius said with a distinct shrug and a casual glanced up and down the street, he let out a nervous sort of squalk and gave a shifty look towards his friend, speaking in a quiet and anxious voice he hissed out, "Remy.. We should probably start running..."

Remus raised an eyebrow and gave a perplexed look in his friends direction with a casual inquiry of, "Why should we do that?".

Sirius jerked a thumb over his shoulder discretely at a group of five surly looking men, dressed in candy-cane leggins and green tunics who were weilding large plastic candy canes and muttering to each other as they stared around the market place, obviously searching for something or someone. "Five angry Santa's Little Helpers at 9.00." The werewolf paled considerably and as one the pair of Marauders took flight, catching the attention of the five men with distinctly triumphant roars of, "VIVA LA FRANCE!".

*****

James Potter was a firm believer that Christmas Eve, was a day of torture. It was not the fact that bundles of Christmas Presents lay waiting, taunting their recipents that they could not even consider opening them until the next day. No, in the Potter household Christmas Eve had a much, much darker purpose.

For every year in the Potter household on Christmas Eve, a party was held. A party which included the creme'd'la'creme of British Wizarding Society, a party which involved not only countless numbers of James' Parents Wizarding friends, but countless people that James had never seen on any other day of the year but Christmas Eve.

Now James had never taken a liking to these parties, he had despised them from the age that his Mother had deemed it acceptable for him to attend them, but the fact that this year, he would be forced to attend this atrocious event with no moral support from even Sirius, it was deemed that this would be the worst of the lot.

For this particuarly horrible piece of torture, James was plotting revenge. He simply wouldn't allow for his mother to get away with putting him through so much emotional stress without support, and in James' mind there was only one word that he associated with revenge, and that was the word 'prank'.

This explained why James was currently scurrying around the sitting room, where the party was every year held. In the pretenses of decorating he was setting up a most elaborate prank that even Sirius would certainly have been proud of had he been here. For behind the usual baubles and holly leaves James had hidden his own personal assault against the most terrible of social occasions. 

Dungbombs and Filibusters Fireworks, Waterbombs and Flour-filled Balloons. But this was only the beginning of James' little prank, as he smiled magnificently at his mother when she produced a large bowl of innocent non-alcoholic punch and hurriedly bustled back out of the room. With a smirk James produced a tiny vial from his pocket, it was all that had been left of the batch he had added to last years Christmas punch at Hogwarts and since it had worked so well there...

Sliding, gliding, dragging a toe and giggling behind his hands, James deftly uncorked the vial and emptied the vial into the punch with a twisted sense of relish. Stirring it into the brilliant pink liquid he could not help but begin to laugh. Not the normal, sane sort of laugh that a healthy thirteen year old would usually display, but an unnatural, disturbing laugh that rang through the room.

He shoved the vial back into his pocket and silenced his laughter giving a shifty glance around the sitting room, letting out a giddy girlish little giggle he stole out of the room on his tiptoes, humming along giddily to the tune of 'God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs' as he skipped up the staircase and passing by his father who was carrying large quantities of tangled christmas lights up the staircase.

Marcus Potter stopped in his tracks, staring nervously after his unnaturally giddy son and shaking his head with a soft sigh. "That kid has some bloody issues.." he muttered beneath his breath before trudging his way up the staircase towards the Sitting Room.

*****

Peter Pettigrew slumped lazily against the bar-top, his half-glazed eyes pinned on the bar-keeper who was presently sweeping behind the bar while keeping a half-eye on a shifty-looking cloaked figure at the end of the bar who was sipping from a glass of sherry.

"Alright there Pete?" the man spoke up conversationally as Peter let out a loud bored sigh. When all he recieved was a slightly depressed stare from the youth Tom the Inn-keeper decided he would have to do something about it, after all, it was Christmas time and the boy was only thirteen!

"Y'know what Pete. Why don't you have a try of this - Ogden's Firewhiskey. One of the best bottles I've come across in quite a while too. Consider it a pick-me-up - Don't go telling you're mother or father mind Pete, I don't need them breathing down my neck see.." Tom trailed off as he poured a shot of the whiskey into a clean shot-glass and slid it down the bar-top to where Peter sat. 

He stared at the smoking glass for several moments before picking it up and taking the shot back like he'd seen others do, almost immediately a pleasant smoky sensation rolled down his throat and his insides warmed. A slight giddy sensation spun in his head and he allowed a goofy smile to cross his face, "thanks Tom" he replied brightly. 

The Innkeeper smiled back brightly, "no problem there, young Pete. You know, I'd say you could probably handle another of those if I do say so myself..." without another word another smoking glassful was set in front of the smallest Marauder who grinned back and swigged down the shot. Feeling distinctly more confident he spoke up brightly as the pleasant spinning sensation swung through his head. 

"Did I ever tell you 'bout the time that me 'n Siri an Jim an Remy filled the entire Slytherin common-room with snow..?" he spoke up sounding distinctly cheery, a flush of colour touching his cheeks. "Well now, I don't believe you did" Tom replied cheerfully as he refilled Peters glass with the firewhiskey and gave an encouraging smile.

"Well y'see" Peter began, taking a loud slurp from the whiskey in his glass and coughing slightly as the burning sensation rolled down his throat. "We was gettin' them back for somethin'... Can't remember what now. But we was gettin' them back for somethin!" Peter declared proudly, puffing out his chest before slurping down the rest of the whiskey in his glass.

"'An we went.. we went down to their common room 'annnnn..." at this Peter began to scratch his head thoughtfully. ".. And...". All of a sudden Peter was beginning to feel rather giddy, his head was spinning and he felt as though he was suddenly rather important. He beamed at Tom broadly and rubbed his head. His holidays all of a sudden didn't seem to be going so badly after all, with a sheepish grin in place he spoke up peering at the barkeeper.

"What was it I was talkin' about again?".

*** ***

Sirius was still laughing by the time they reached a near-by park, the angry Santa's Little Helpers having been lost somewhere amongst the crowds of late Christmas Shoppers. Slightly ahead of him Remus was bent double, wheezing with laughter as he tried to regain his breath. The snow they were standing in almost reached to the tops of Sirius' boots and with a spark of inspiration suddenly in his head Sirius scooped some of the white mush from the ground and moulded it carefully into a ball.

With a flash it had splattered across the back of Remus' head and a loud gasp could be heard from the were-wolf who spun on his heels, scooping snow from the ground and firing it towards Sirius who hurriedly ducked and beamed at his friend as it soared past. Without another thought Remus charged his friend with a roar of, "VICTORY!".

With a splat amongst the snow the pair landed and began to roll through the white mush, grasping handfuls of the powder to stuff down the others back and mush in each others faces. Remus rolled off and jumped to his feet, loaded with two handfuls of snow which he promptly began to pelt his friend with.

Sirius let out a roar and shielded his face as he sprung to his feet, his response being to jump behind a large tree to use as a shield and load up his arms with balls of the mushy white powder, of which he began to fire at his friend relentlessly, all the while using the cover of his 'base'.

Remus, having realised that the enemy had found a strategy took off towards the muggle childrens playground, of which he made good use of by setting up camp behind a climbing wall and piling up countless balls of snow before peeking out behind it in search of his friends locating. With a loud splat, Remus wiped the freezing substance from his face and shook his head to glare at the smug Sirius who was guffawing with loud laughter.

"You're going down Black!" Remus declared loudly pelting snowballs at his friend who replied loudly in between dodging and darting his way towards a new hide-out, "not on your life Lupin!". "Just you wait Black! You'll be begging for mercy before I'm finished with you!" came the loud retort as Remus took a running roll dive across the snow and landed behind his new hide-out. 

Sirius let out a loud snort of laughter, "pulling out the war tactics now aren't we Lupin! You wait and see, I, Sirius the almighty, shall defeat you!". Remus' laughter echoed through the playground as he scrambled across a set of Monkeybars, armed with snowballs aplenty which he began to fire relentlessly at his black-haired friend.

"Admit defeat Black and I might just spare you!" Remus called back brashly before letting out a yelp as a snowball hit him dead in the center of his forehead and sent him sprawling back to the ground, landing with a thud amidst the thick snow with a surprised expression etched onto his face.

Now it was Sirius' turn to laugh again as his friend lay flat-backed in the snow and he slunk out from behind his hide-out and strolled over with a grin. "Do you admit defeat now Lupin?" he declared loudly, with a pompuous smirk in place on his face. Remus however merely grinned and slid his foot out to sweep Sirius' own feet out from under him. His friend landed with a thud in the snow barely a meter away.

"I think it's safe to say that it's a draw Siri" Remus spoke up finally after several minutes of them laying back in the snow staring at the sky in silence.


	37. Part Two: The Noble and Most Ancient Hou...

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Five:   
Part Two: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.**

*****

Marcus Potter was completely and utterly bewildered. 

Never once in his entire life had he ever expected to see the Minister for Magic swinging around one of his lampshades like a pole-dancer - and now that he had seen it he certainly wished that he hadn't. The fact of the matter was that the Minister wasn't the only person in the room who was acting completely out of character, for one thing he had never once seen a group of Unspeakables swing dancing with such enthusiasm.

A glance in the direction of a large group of Aurors found the lot of them were drinking and singing loudly along to their own distinctly explicit version of 'Deck the Halls'. Well at least that was normal. He grimaced upon seeing his son in the very midst of it, having been suspended onto the shoulders of Caradoc Dearborn and singing just as loudly as the rest of the aurors.

It had all began, when one much to familiar Auror-turned-Professor had shown up amidst the group of already rowdy aurors. Now Marcus Potter didn't have anything against Murray Moore, but the fact of the matter was that at parties, his sons Defense Against Dark Arts teacher tended to turn rowdy. Not just your average laughing uncontrollably rowdy either, this was the kind of rowdy that had people dancing on the table-tops.

Moore had been the first to start in on the punch, and after that the party had degenerated quite drastically in a social perspective. From what Marcus could see it reminded him greatly of his Hogwarts Graduation party (minus one Oliver Black with a lampshade over his head doing a two-step on the buffet table). He couldn't help but half-grin as Moore took it upon himself to conduct the group of Aurors and James in another verse of the less then child-friendly Christmas carol.

Glancing around he found a large number of his guests were acting oddly and somehow, he felt that James had a great deal to do with it. He hadn't been afraid to make his opinion known of these Christmas Parties but Marcus had never suspected he would actually go so far as to do something about it.

With a shake of his head he headed over towards the punch bowl and filled his glass, sometimes he didn't understand the way James' mind worked. With a swig of his glass Marcus wrinkled his nose with a slight frown, that certainly didn't taste like the usual punch that his wife made. Speaking of his wife, he found himself oddly giggling as she tried to extract the lamp from the Minister who didn't seem to be quite finished pole-dancing yet.

For some reason this seemed extremely funny to Marcus all of a sudden and he began to laugh loudly while pointing at the Minister. He began to traipse his way over to the group of Unspeakables, for some reason the swing-dancing seemed oddly appealing. Especially as one of them fell flat on his back, laughing uncontrollably he declared aloud, "what a silly pants!!!".

Several eyes turned onto the host of the party as he began to giggle uncontrollably and soon enough found himself joined by a large majority of the room. 

James Potter grinned smugly as his plan fell into the works and watched his father with amusement as he withdrew his wand casually, the auror whose shoulders he was currently situated on much to busy to notice as a few sparks shot towards the nearest set of decorations. James managed to mostly unnoticed slip away out of the sitting room and grinned broadly when sudden whistling exploded.

The show had just begun.

******

Sirius Black awoke in a distinctly good mood on Christmas Day. He was surprised to find that Remus had woken up before him and was already ripping into the presents at the foot of his make-shift bed, Remus appeared to be humming happily along to himself as he withdrew a extremely warm-looking winter jacket from it's wrappings and immediately threw it on with a satisfied smile as he read through a note that had come fluttering out of it.

"Merry Christmas Siri" he added absently causing Sirius to jump nearly a foot in the air upon realising that his friend knew he was awake. "Merry Christmas Remy" he replied cheerily as he sprung upon the presents piled at the end of his bed. Sirius tore apart the first of his presents with a gleam in his eyes, his face alight as he stared down at the set of three records that had been tied together with a ribbon that were found amidst it's wrappings.

"Wicked Jim.." Sirius muttered beneath his breath as he frantically peered over the records as though preparing to drink them in. Remus let out a cheer as he produced a large box of Fizzing Whizzbee's and tore them open to begin sucking on one intently. Almost immediately he began to hover several feet above the floor, looking very much so like he was meditating as he reached for his next present.

By the time that the pair had finished unwrapping their presents and Remus had stopped levitating the pair were in distinctly good spirits and were already tearing around Sirius' room getting dressed. Sirius by this time was singing loudly along to one of the records he had recieved with Remus following suit. 

"_I'ma love man, call me the love man. Ooh, baby I'm a love man. That's what they call me, the love man. Make love to you in the morning girl, make love to you at night now, make love to you when you think about it, I wanna make sure everythin' is all right. Cause I'ma love man, call me the love man. Ooh, baby I'm a love man. That's what they call me, the love man.."_

When they had finally finished getting ready both parties were grinning from ear to ear and looking distinctly pleased with themselves. Both wearing muggle clothing and thick winter jackets with their Gryffindor Scarves and thick gloves. They traipsed down the stairs singing loudly along to the fading remnants of their song and presented themselves into the kitchen where it appeared that Sirius' mother was hazardously running around the kitchen in order to finish her 'dish' she was taking to Sirus' Grandparents.

Sirius' father however was lazing back in his chair at the kitchen table, every so often rolling his eyes at his wife and declaring loudly, "you do realise that she doesn't expect you to bring anything Lucy". At this his wife would shoot a downright frazzled glare at him and he would hurriedly shut up and glance aside.

When the pair of boys showed up Oliver however beamed widely and let out a cheerful, "Merry Christmas!". Both returned the favour before taking seats, looking distinctly like eskimos with their thick layers of clothing. Remus glanced somewhat nervously towards where Sirius' mother was now racing backwards and forwards, stirring pots with her wand and making some vigorous jabs at a knife which began to slice viciously through vegetabes on the kitchen counter.

Remus involunteerily flinched and glanced nervously towards his friend who was peering with a raised eyebrow towards his distinctly stressed out mother.

******

Sirius Black stared with solemn trepadition out the car window as his father pulled into Grimmauld Place, a road which held to many memories for the boy that he would rather be rid of. He glanced cautiously towards where Remus sat, twisting his hands together in his lap and looking downright as though he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

A shiver rolled through his spine as Sirius stared in silence at the two houses marked quite clearly as, Number 11 and Number 13. Stiffening in his seat Sirius found himself clutching almost convulsively at his seatbelt and found that he quite frankly did not wish to go anywhere near the 'Most Noble and Ancient House of Black'.

He felt Remus' eyes on him and released his grip of the seatbelt, sucking in a deep breath and glancing quietly towards his parents. He had always hated visiting his grandparents house, not only because of the way that they themselves and Sirius' uncles and aunts acted, but the way that his parents tended to act whenever they came into contact with them.

He had always despised how greatly his parents seemed to suddenly resemble his grandparents whenever they were within radius of them. A careful glance back towards Remus found himself stirring out of thought, he hadn't realised yet that his mother and father had already gotten out of the car. With the pretenses of a sheepish grin he slid out of his seat with a growing feeling of numbness spreading through his limbs.

He found Remus standing next to him silently, his eyes intent upon his hands which he was twisting together with such intensity that it was only a matter of time before he hurt himself. Sirius sighed as he followed his parents towards the gap directly between houses 11 and 13. Remus followed silently behind, his eyes filled with trepadition as without warning and a discrete wave of Oliver's wand the two houses on either side seemed to stretch aside and standing firm in the middle was now Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

From the much to obvious shaking of his hands to the paling of his skin it was obvious to anyone who cared to look that Sirius Black did not wish to be there. Fingers clenching together he gave a firm glance in Remus' direction before they walked silently to the doors behind Sirius' parents. This would be one Christmas that neither would forget too soon.

*****

Sirius' Grandmother was everything that Remus had envisioned, and even more so from the moment that Remus had laid eyes on her. She was almost skeletally thin, with long bony hands that seemed so terribly claw-like that Remus wasn't terribly sure she was human, her hair though well-kept was greying at the roots and Remus could tell that in her earlier years it would have been as black as Sirius' own.

Her eyes were a pale grey, promoting such malicious stares upon the pair from the second they entered the house that the werewolf wondered whether even his transformed state could be so formidable. Her skin was a pallid cream as though one to many concealing spells had been cast upon it, but despite all that a very familiar shape of the face shone through and it was obvious that in her younger years she would have possessed great beauty.

From the second they walked through the door she had greeted them with distinctly bark-like rebuttals, Sirius' father having been greeted with a charming snarl that they were late. Sirius himself had been fixed with a stare of intense dislike from the moment he had entered and had yet to be acknowledged to any great extent, Remus had been stared at with such intensity that he felt he had been placed under a gigantic miscroscope and had 'Werewolf' stamped in red across his forehead.

He could feel a definite shake entering his arms and satisfied himself with shoving his hands in his pockets and avoiding his eyes carefully. However amongst them all Sirius' Mother had been greeted with surprising warmth and Remus had caught Sirius scowling quite plainly in the womans direction.

They had been ushered wordlessly into the sitting room, with Sirius steering him silently towards a couch with an apology shining quite plainly in his eyes. Inside the sitting room however they came across an unexpected surprise, on opposite sides of the room two men were standing, the one closest to the door had a reseeding head of black hair and rather sour expression. His eyes fixed on some point on the ceiling. The other had the same blonde hair as Sirius' father, his face was distinctly more inviting and his own eyes had drifted towards the doorway.

He winked discretely at Sirius and Remus as they entered and Remus noted with a slight bound that Sirius half-smiled before taking a seat quietly on the unoccupied couch. At the dark-haired mans side sat a lady, whos prim stature and sharp-grey eyes immediately reminded Remus of Sirius' grandmother. She looked, quite plainly, as though someone had just shoved a pile of dung under her nose.

"Oliver" she adressed sharply, without even a hint of warmth. Her eyes were creased around the corners and the greys that could be picked out in her hair showed she was a lot older then she had at first appeared. Sirius' father nodded briefly in response with a cool reply of, "Ella."

"For goodness sakes Oliver, I'm not a child. Don't call me that" the woman spoke up haughtily with a sour expression in the younger mans direction. With that she turned her attention to Sirius' mother, who once again recieved a decidingly warmer welcome then the rest of the family combined.

Remus could already tell today would be a very, very long day.

******

Christmas Dinner. That one feast that despite the differences, despite the screaming matches, despite the hair-pulling and body-slamming would always be enjoyed. Or at least, in theory that was supposed to be how things worked out. But it appeared at the house of Black, more then a few unwelcome guests were present and little to nobody had the self-restraint to hold back from having a go at their chosen adversary.

For not ten minutes after the arrival of Sirius and Remus, there had been the arrival of the guests of honour - the Malfoys. Not that they were the only occupants of the table that in Sirius and Remus' eyes could have been done without, for Sirius' cousins had shown up not long after that. 

A nineteen year old by the name of Andromeda Black, who appeared to be the only mid-way decent female the Black line had produced in decades, a thirteen year old by the name of Narcissa, whos white-blonde hair and pretty face was marred by the fact that her expression largely resembled Sirius' Aunt Elladora's. Last of all came a Twelve year old by the name of Bellatrix, a girl also sporting the famous Black beauty, with a dark red-hued hair and heavily hooded eyes which seemed to be constantly in competition with Sirius' own.

Remus, who upon finding two of three of the girls staring at him with intense curiosity had begun to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Sirius having introduced him with a sullen face as Remus Lupin, this had been enough to find Malfoy's father staring at him sharply. As for the Malfoys, Lucius had been spending a great deal of time staring at Narcissa, while his mother chatted quite pompuously with Sirius' Aunt Elladora.

Sirius' mother was engaged in conversation with Sirius' grandmother and the pair were looking downright threatening when sitting together, Sirius' father was talking solemnly with his brother-in-law while the other blonde-haired man of the family had slunk over to sit with Sirius and Remus and was currently trying to look inconspicuous as he recited jokes to the pair.

At least, this was how the dinner had started. But as these things tend to do, Christmas Dinner was not going to remain as peaceful as it had begun. It all started with Lucius Malfoy making a wild and inarticulated kick under the table, which by complete fluke caught Sirius full-fledged in the shin.

Letting out a low hiss of pain Sirius glared positive murder across the table to where Malfoy had a distinctly smug smile painted across his pointed face. Sirius, not being one to give up had swung wildly back at the Slytherin, instead catching a table-leg. When the entire table began to teeter rather dangerously it didn't take long for Remus and Sirius to scramble away, others it seemed weren't as fortunate.

Andromeda and Sirius' Uncle Alphard, who had both been sitting near Sirius and Remus had taken the hint and scrambled away from the table, Oliver who was smart enough to recognise the warning signs had also backed away while Lucius who had begun the fiasco easily stepped away from the table. But as mashed potatos began to slide at a furious pace down the table, accompanied by a giant turkey and a bowl of cranberry sauce.

A large percentage of the table found themselves being coated in different foods, both from their own plates and the serving dishes. Sirius' face paled considerably as his grandmother let out a loud shriek of rage and on impulse grabbed Remus' arm and did the only reasonable thing that came to mind - Sirius ran.

The pair took off, hurdling turned over cheers and a mass of brown gloop from where the gravy had up-ended. Remus was fairly sure he had heard Sirius' Uncle Alphard wish them luck as they took off through the house in search of an exit that wasn't bolted with a dozen or more locks.

Sirius' firm grip on Remus' arm didn't appear to lessen at all as a loud shriek followed them towards the front door. Sirius let out a low moan as he stared at the literal sea of locks that seemed to adorn the front door, without a thought Remus withdrew his wand from his pocket and yelped out 'Alohomora!'.

The bolts began to fly open, sliding and un-locking before the door swung abruptly open. The pair spilled outside without another thought, tumbling and stumbling down the steps as the door slammed shut behind them of its own accord, another shriek of rage following them down the footpath.

Remus let out a yell as they reached the footpath, his wand in hand as he tripped over Sirius' feet and was barely caught by the back of his neck as a deafening 'BANG' followed by a blinding light filled the street. Sirius' eyes widened considerably as he glanced up, righting Remus to his feet as he stared at the bus which was painted a violent shade of purple.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Ernie Prang, and I will be your conductor this eve-"

The man broke off to stare at the pair of flabbergasted teens who had suddenly pushed past him to get on the bus.

"GET US OUT OF HERE!"


	38. Legend of the Quidditch Pitch

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Six: Legend of the Quidditch Pitch.**

**A/N: Eeeee Arigatou for all of the reviews! Gomen for how long this took to get out, I tried to write this at least a dozen times before I got to this version and found something that I was satisfied with posting. Anyways, thank you all for all the reviews and I always appreciate more ^-^ *hint hint* C'mon peoples lets hit 350 ^-^;**

*****

Christmas break had been and gone, classes had begun again and life at Hogwarts seemed to be getting back into the swing of things in James Potters eyes. Everything seemed to be working smoothly and flawlessly, from the occasional midnight mischief-making to the outlandish pranks and from the most boring of theory History of Magic to the most daring of Defense Against Dark Arts lessons yet.

Amoungst the jumble of overloaded homework which seemed to accompany the looming of End of Year exams and the sudden need of Sirius' to raise some hell in the decided quiet of the year there was a black spot which did not fail to capture James' attention. He knew that by now he should have grown accustomed to the haggard expression and tired drag of Remus' limbs when the full moon passed, but still it continued to niggle into his thoughts that they should be doing something to help him.

A careful sigh escaping his lips James chanced a glance up towards his distinctly pale friend who was sucking on the tip of his quill while reading over a hurried potions essay. James grimaced at the sight of heavy bandaging winding its way up the werewolfs arm and glanced towards his right where Sirius had charmed a spare quill to divebomb at a nearby group of firstyears and was snickering with amusement as it wedged itself into a curly-haired girls ponytail.

Peter, he noticed with little effort was watching Sirius with a small smile in place on his face as he feigned doing a Charms Essay after having accidently made the frog he was supposed to be shrinking explode all over the classroom. James found himself on the verge of sneering at the littlest member of their group before shaking his head and slumping back against the seat of the armchair he was leaning against and tossing his wand into the air before catching it.

His eyes caught upon the tall and lean figure of the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain with a hint of curiosity, the youth in question was leaning against the wall near the fireplace and chatting conversationally with one of the teams beaters about the upcoming match against Slytherin. James could feel his stomach begin to swill as the upcoming Quidditch match was brought to his attention. Now that was something that he would rather not think about.

Clenching his teeth together he felt his mind drift over the various flying formations that Jack had been trying to teach them in the previous few weeks. James let out a yell of surprise as something collided with his head and nearly jumped as he heard Sirius' familiar barking laugh rise above the sound of the commonroom.

Grimacing James reached for the charmed quill and wrenched it out of his tangle of hair before redirecting it towards its creator. "Very funny Siri" he drawled back in a voice very reminiscent of Lucius Malfoy before snickering as the quill embedded itself in Sirius' own silken black ponytail.

Sirius stuck out his tongue sulkily as he removed the quill from his hair and threw it down on the table that the four were clustered about, sticking his bottom lip out rather sourly as he kicked his feet up, barely inches from Remus' open textbooks and parchment and declared loudly, "I'm bored."

Smiling sweetly at the vaguely ill-tempered glare that Remus shot at him Sirius turned his sulky expression towards James who seemed to be about as interested as he was. James let out a yawn and stretched his arms out over his head, "you can come with me then Siri" he declared slowly, his eyes glancing towards Remus ever so carefully before resting back on Sirius with a half-grin.

"Where're we going then?" Sirius spoke up, sounding mildly intrigued as he leapt to his feet, miles ahead of James who seemed to be taking his time in getting off of the floor. James gave a shifty grin back at his friend as he lazily departed in the direction of the boys dormitories, Sirius stared after him for several seconds before leap-frogging the chair he had been seated in and taking off in pursuit.

"Oi!! Jamie, wait up!" he wailed out as he pounded up the staircase in pursuit of his friend, who he found standing quite serenely at the very top of the staircase, his invisibility cloak propped casually in one hand dangling infront of him in an explanatory fashion. Sirius grinned at the possibilities that were opened by the one item being dangled under his nose and allowed a very crooked sort of smile to fix itself upon his face, his eyes gleaming with delight.

"Where're we going?" he hissed again, obviously excited with the prospect of getting out of Gryffindor Tower his hands rubbing together as his eyes lingered upon the invisibility cloak. "Not here Siri, tell you one we're out of the tower" James responded before throwing the cloak around his shoulders and pulling the hood over his head.

Faced with an invisible friend Sirius blinked rather confusedly before finding himself being drawn under the cloaks protection and the two, after checking that they weren't visible began to steal their way silently down the staircase and weave their way through the common-room. Upon finding themselves alone and out in the hallway, several yards away from the nosy fat lady James' hushed whisper muttered towards Sirius, "we're going to the library."

At this Sirius let out a loud groan of distaste and threw off the invisibility cloak, folding his arms comically across his chest and glaring with disbelief in the direction he was sure that his invisible friend was. Sure enough with a tug of the cloak James' head popped out of thin air and he rolled his eyes, "I was thinking Siri, that maybe we should try and find some way to help Remus. Y'know, it must be bloody awful to go through all of that, have you seen what he does to himself?"

Sirius' look of distaste seemed to lessen somewhat and he sighed, raking a hand through his fringe before glancing sideways at his friend. "You're right Jamie, we should try and help him. After all, he's the one who always tries to help us out right...?" Sirius trailed off to peer somewhat amusedly at James' suspended head as it floated in mid-air.

When his friend began to nod in all seriousness, his face full of a grave determination Sirius couldn't help but begin to laugh again. His loud barking laughter carried down the hallway and James let out a yell of surprise and dragged his friend under the invisibility cloak before covering up his head as the sound of footsteps falling entered the hall. James clapped a hand firmly over Sirius' mouth to shush him and dragged the both of them behind a particuarly squeaky suit of armour.

They watched with hidden trepadition as Argus Filch, clad in his hideous moleskin jacket came prowling down the hallway, a curling mass of fur and yeowling weaving its way between his legs as he slouched his way down the corridor with narrowed eyes. "Prob'bly those bloody Gryffindors... Ruddy Potter 'n Black - get the slimy little gits expelled if ever I do catch 'em..." such muttering followed the caretakers trek down the hallway, with the infamous Mrs Norris turning lamplike yellow eyes upon the boys hiding place with curiosity before yeowling loudly as she scurried after Filch.

As soon as they were sure that Filch was out of earshot James removed his hand from Sirius' mouth and winced as his friend stifled his barking laugh behind his hands. "Like that ol' git would ever be able to get us expelled" James muttered somewhat darkly in the direction the caretaker had dissapeared in before the two snuck out from behind their suit of armour and began the slow and long trek towards the Library.

"How d'you reckon we could help him?" Sirius muttered as they drew closer to the library, stumbling down a staircase on the way. "There isn't a cure remember" Sirius added as they swept down a side-corridor to avoid a roaming Peeves, looking for some way to torment some wandering student.

"But, remember that Moore said that sometimes werewolves adopt other animals as part of their pack? Y'know like real wolves do with other wolves..." James hissed back, ducking behind a statue as a patrolling Ravenclaw Prefect swept along the corridor, yawning loudly to herself.

Waiting for several minutes before they moved out Sirius whispered out carefully, anticipation lingering in his voice, "are you saying what I think you are Jamie?" James didn't fail to notice the excitement gathering in his friends voice or the quivering of his friends arms as they pressed together to squeeze through the doorway to the library.

"I dunno Siri..." came the soft, eager response from James as he felt his own arms quaking as moonlight spilled across the carpet, illuminating the bookshelves in silver light. "It would be really hard.." James whispered somewhat nervously and felt Sirius almost bubbling as he hissed back, "but what isn't?"

"It could be dangerous... not to mention it's illegal.." he added cautiously, his fingertips dancing together as he felt his own eagerness begin to betray his sense of caution. "But it would be worth it..." Sirius whispered back and suddenly James seemed to envision his friends face, dark blue eyes shining with anticipation and his mouth half-curving in eager impatience for his friends response.

"Plus it's for Remy" Sirius added hastily, his eyes shimmering with positive radiance as James took in a ragged breath and chewed down on his lip, unable to contain the wave of sudden eager impatience that took a hold of him he repeated softly, "for Remy".

This seemed to seal their agreement, hands locking together firmly in a pact to see their plans through. The two turned without another word, discarding the invisibility cloak in the front of James' jumper before tiptoeing their way towards the restricted section in search of anything they could find on the topic of Animagi.

*****

James Potter was positively terrified as his fingers clutched almost fanatically tight to the handle of his new racing broom, it had been a gift from his father - a combination of his making the Quidditch team and Christmas. He could hear the dim roar of the crowd already and knew it wouldn't be long before he would be out on the pitch for the second game of the season, the first having been the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

Hazel eyes carefully took in the rest of the players, all of them decked out in brand new beautifully sewn Scarlet Quidditch robes emblazened with the Gryffindor Crest. He smiled faintly at the names that were proclaimed in Gold stitch across the shoulder blades on the back of the robes. 'Potter.' Gryffindor Chaser.

This alone seemed enough to boost James' confidence quite drastically, but when he heard the sudden tremendous pounding from above James could feel his stomach suddenly soar and all decorum was lost as he rushed towards the doorway with the rest of the team to stare out around the Quidditch Stadium.

Sure enough James could pick out two figures at the Gryffindor Stands, decked out completely in scarlet and gold and holding what looked like muggle microphones. As he watched a deafening thundering erupted from the crowds in the form of hands clapping out a rythm that he recognised with a smile from their first year.

In the place of the old banner it appeared that his friends had laboured on a new one, a brilliant Gryffindor lion was bearing what appeared to be an accurate cariacture of himself upon its back, the Quidditch cup held in his hands over his head. He couldn't help but grin at the amount of effort that his friends had obviously put into the performance. 

The noise that filled the stadium was deafening, with even the Slytherins unable to move the focus from the rythmic clapping of the Gryffindors as Sirius and Remus, who James now realised were standing on the barriers between the seats and the pitch itself, some thirty feet high in the air.

James grinned as Sirius' voice carried out loudly over the clapping, easily heard by a magnifying charm;

"Buddy you're a boy make a big noise  
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day  
You got mud on yo' face  
You big disgrace  
Kickin' your can all over the place  
Singin'"

Without ever pausing in their tremendous clapping the Gryffindor Supporters roared out in unison with both Sirius and Remus, "We will we will rock you, We will we will rock you." James beamed with amazement as Remus, carefully balancing his way across the barriers managed to belt out the next verse to the song, his voice just as keenly heard by the supporters amidst the tremendous thundering clapping.

"Buddy you're a young man hard man  
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the World some day  
You got blood on yo' face  
You big disgrace  
Wavin' your banner all over the place  
Singin"

Once again with great enthusiasm the Gryffindors, joined by a handful of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws roared out, "We will we will rock you, We will we will rock you." Sirius and Remus by now had met in the middle of the barrier, carefully balancing they turned to face the crowd of Gryffindors and egged the crowd on with loud clapping as they joined together in the last verse.

"Buddy you're an old man poor man  
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day  
You got mud on your face  
You big disgrace  
Somebody better put you back in your place"

With a thundrous enthusiasm the crowd bellowed out in response to the pair, "We will we will rock you, We will we will rock you. EVERYBODY We will we will rock you, We will we will rock you." 

The clapping trailed off to enthusiastic roars from the stadium as the pair of Marauders jumped lazily back into the stands taking profuse bows and scurrying up the stairs towards the top of the box where Peter was saving their seats beneath the gigantic Gryffindor banner. 

James watched the two distant figures with growing confidence, his face set with raw determination as he clutched onto his brand new Silver Arrow with a fervence. He would make sure that they clobbered the Slytherins into the ground, whether he had to do it alone or not. The determination set on his face was noticed with appreciation by the rest of the team as they traipsed out onto the fields looking very much alike they were going to war.

A deafening roar of appreciation met the teams ears as they entered the pitch and James grinned waving madly up at the Gryffindor stadium with a large smile in place and a careful wipe of his glasses to make sure they were perfectly clean. This was what he had been dreaming of, the soaring sensation in his stomach as he mounted his broom and awaited the whistle to kick off. He watched with a triumphant grin as Jack won the toss of the coin and they recieved the Quaffle.

With a shrill whistle the game began, James kicked off hard from the firm pitch and almost immediately the rush of wind through his hair and the rebellious soaring of his stomach seemed to take him past anything he'd ever felt before. This was how life should be, barreling through the air as fast as you could go. His grin faded into a determined scowl however as the Quaffle came into view, the brilliant red standing out against a pale grey sky.

He would make sure they won. Gripping the handle of his broom with one hand he called for the pass from Jack who was swooping and diving through a literal sea of Slytherin Chasers, his Captain had barely passed the Quaffle to him before a loud smack sounded, signalling the collision of a Bludger with his Captains body.

Catching the Quaffle he stowed it away in the crook of his arm pit and did what came naturally to him.

James Potter flew.

*****

The Gryffindor Common Room was in uproar following the spectacular game they had just witnessed. The newest and youngest member of the team having made one of the best impressions that any of the players on the team remembered having witnessed in a long time. Flying simply came natural to James Potter as the team crowed loudly, Sirius was currently conducting a cheerful slightly tipsy crowd of fifth years in another chorus of 'We are the Champions' while Remus was flopped lazily on a couch talking cheerfully with Lily.

Peter however remained to be seen and had been gone for quite some time, though all but Lily had failed to notice the absence of the smaller Marauder and she had a sneaking suspicion that he was raiding the kitchens for more food.

Remus grinned as James, having escaped his clamouring crowd of fans came over to flop down on the couch beside him and gave a loud gasp of relief. "Thought they'd never leave me alone" he spoke up cheerfully, taking a swig from an open bottle of butterbeer in his hand and grinning at the pair. 

"Brilliant flying Jamie" Remus conceeded cheerfully taking a swig from his own butterbeer, still looking a bit peeky even though the full moon had been over a week ago now. A sudden overly loud roar half-deafened the seated trio as Sirius' choir came to a conclusion with a loudly slurred roar of, " - Yes! We are the Championnnnnnssss, of the Worlllllllllddddddd!".

Clapping erupted from all sides as Sirius bowed profusely to his audience before departing to land with a thud in the space on the other side of Remus, sitting closer to Lily and giving a broad grin. "Bloody brilliant Jamie m'lad!" Sirius declared enthusiatically for no less then the fifty second time that night. Remus caught Lily wrinkling her nose and chuckled into his butterbeer with the pretenses of drinking.

Sirius began to pound his friend on the back, obviously under the impression that he was choking with a good-natured call of, "y'alright there Remy?". Remus swatted at Sirius' hands with a half-smile and a complaint of, "I'm just fine thankyou Siri".

Sirius grinned broadly behind his bottle and gave an innocent shrug of his shoulders to which he recieved a deft and efficient smack over the back of the head and in the place of the culprit he found only an innocently whistling Remus Lupin.

******

The second year Gryffindors clustered excitedly around the door to the Charms Classroom, this was the day that they had all been waiting for with anticipation. The day that their tiny Charms Professor had set for when they would cover Wizarding duelling, with the ever-helpful presence of one Auror-turned-Professor.

The knowledge that their Professor was a duelling champion had spread like wildfire after Sirius' outburst at the beginning of the year and ever since they had waited eagerly for any mention of Wizarding Duels from their tiny Professor. When the subject had been brought up towards the end of their previous lesson, Flitwick had announced with a broad grin that he would delight in bringing in Professor Moore to help with the demonstrations.

This was precisely why the Four Marauders were pressed up as close as they could get to the doorway, five minutes before their Charms lesson was due to start, trying in vain to see if they could see Professor Moore or Flitwick inside the room.

When the door opened up without warning all four stumbled forwards, nearly knocking over a particuarly malicious looking Professor Moore whos face currently presented a wide and decidedly wicked grin. "Hello muppets" he greeted courteously. All four shot suspicious glances at him, with Peter vainly trying to maintain his impressive glare while attempting to blow his fringe out of his eyes.

Remus spotting this began to snicker to himself and soon enough had to give up on his own suspicious stare as he lost any will to continue the fruitless crusade when Moore began to taunt Sirius and James with his eyebrows. Neither James or Sirius appeared to be giving up however, as that would mean admitting defeat to a Professor, and Moore of all Professors.

They were cut off however when Professor Flitwick made his not-so-grand entrance, carrying a stack of cushions that were taller then he was and tottering on his feet as though he were going to fall at any minute. Moore let out a snort of uncontrolled laughter before extending his wand and declaring a loud, "Accio!".

The cushions soared out of the tiny Professors arms and began to pelt at James and Sirius who were coincidently standing between both Moore and Flitwick. "Aah! Thankyou Murray" the grinning Professor spoke up cheerfully as he swept past the and into the middle of the room where he proceeded to announce a loud, "Accio Cushions!".

Almost immediately the cushions that had been pelting Sirius and James instead changed course to zoom towards Flitwick and the middle of the room. The rest of the Gryffindors had by now crept inside and were glancing around eagerly as the pair of Professors lined the floor with the stack of thick squashy cushions.

Flitwick gave a broad smile in James' direction as he began to set out the cushions across the floor, "brilliant flying on Saturday Mister Potter" he commented squeakily and James couldn't help but grin wider. Moore snorted loudly and added, "yes Potter. You're quite the legend in your own bathrobe.." 

Peter was by now trembling slightly his eyes fixed nervously on the three others of his group, he knew for certain that he didn't want to be paired with any of them for this particular lesson. The last thing he needed was to be humiliated in front of the rest of the class even more then usual.

Remus found himself grinning to himself as he watched James and Sirius exchange looks, he knew quite a few defensive spells and several that could be put to good use in a duel. It was all a part of being a Lupin, his Uncle had decided that at the age of five it was time for Remus to learn how to duel properly.

His eyes shifting towards where Sirius and James were now discussing something in whispered voices he could feel the corners of his mouth itching into a frown, he knew that there was something going on with the pair of them lately. They had been acting strangely ever since they had gotten back from Christmas break, secretive and disappearing together for hours on end, not to mention they seemed to be going to the library a hell of a lot more then they would even consider usually.

He gave a jolt when he realised that Professor Flitwick was speaking before Sirius had shoved him forwards with a wide grin on his face with a loud yell of, "Remy does!" Remus blinked for several moments of confusion as he was faced with an inquiring stare from Professor Flitwick.

"Aah, very good Mister Lupin. What is the spell that you know?" Remus glanced towards Sirius somewhat irritably to find the boy innocently staring up at the ceiling. "Er.. The disarming spell" he replied somewhat uncertainly and was gifted with an excited smile from the Professor.

"Brilliant! Come here my boy, don't be shy. Come here..." Remus glanced over his shoulder somewhat concernedly before stepping towards the Professor who beamed broadly as he produced his own wand. "Would you care to give a demonstration.." Flitwick began but was cut out by an eagerly grinning Professor Moore who seemed to have bounced forwards out of nowhere, strangely enough bearing a white glove in one hand.

"In the fashion of your people Lupin.." he spoke up with a maniacal grin. Remus blinked several times muttering out, "my people?" to which Moore rolled his eyes as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. "Yes! You're people, you are french aren't you Lupin? You haven't been decieving me and are really somalian?".

Remus felt his eyebrow twitch and nodded slowly to which Moore beamed broadly. "Good then Lupin, can't stand liars. They're worse then those bloody scotts.. Now as I was saying, in the fashion of your people...". Before Remus could react he felt a stinging sensation over the left side of his face and stared in confusion between the white glove in Moore's hand and the twisted grin on the aurors face.

"Now Murray.. I'm not quite sure whether that is proper.." they heard Flitwick begin before he was cut off with a raucous, "haha! I challenge you Lupin to a duel!".

Remus stared in the utmost bewilderment between the obviously confused Flitwick to the awaiting Moore before snatching the glove out of the aurors hand and returning the favour, Sirius letting out a loud whoop as the glove collided with Moore's face and Remus replied. "I accept!".

"Mister Lupin! Professor Moore.. I'm not quite sure whether this is allowed or not..." they could hear Flitwick speak up in vain as they backed up several paces and bowed appropriately to each other, eyes interlocked with a challenge. With a blinding flash of light the duel began, with Remus' cry of 'Expelliarmus!' ringing in the air as Moore's response of 'Stupefy!' ripped through the air.

Remus ducked hurriedly as a singing ray of red sped overhead and heard gasps of surprise as something collided with his head and all of a sudden he felt rather dizzy...

*****

"That was ruddy brilliant!" James roared aloud as Remus rubbed his head with an evident grimace. "You bloody disarmed Moore! Moore! An auror for gods sakes Remy!".

Remus Lupin was currently situated in the Hospital Wing, his friends had only just been allowed to come into visit and James was in a full-blown ranting mood. Sirius was beaming proudly at him from where he was sitting beside Remus' bed, his feet kicked up beside Remus' legs. Remus grimaced as James continued to gush wildly, his hazel eyes filled with triumph that they had something over Moore's head once again.

"He's a bloody Auror Remy! and you! YOU! disarmed him!" 

Remus snorted and cut James off midway through his rant with a hurried response of, "and I managed to knock myself out with his flying wand. I can see how very impressive it must have been Jamie" Remus responded good-humoredly with a faint smile in place on his face.

"But still! He's an Auror!"

"Jim, shut up" Sirius spoke up finally, effectively silencing his best friend who continued to beam at Remus with the air of a proud parental figure. "So when did Pomphrey say you could get outta here?" Sirius spoke up glancing towards Remus as though to make the direction of his question clearer, "just as soon as she gives me one last potion. Then I can leave" he replied with a half-smile as James peered curiously at a row of potion bottles that hadn't been cleared away yet.

Remus watched with a slightly furrowed brow as James' eyes lit up and he swiped a bottle from the tray and slid it into his pockets before turning back to them as though nothing had happened. Sirius seemed to notice that Remus had been watching and gave a frown in James' direction who gave a sheepish shrug.

"Where's Pete?" Remus spoke up finally, glancing away from James and glancing towards Sirius. Sirius half-shrugged, "I think he's trying to convince Mcgonagall not to put him on detention after dropping that dungbomb in the transfiguration corridor on the way here".

James gave a tiny snicker at this and Remus rolled his eyes with a sigh, his guess had to be that Peter hadn't been the one to drop the dungbomb at all but had just been to slow to get out of the road before Mcgonagall arrived on the scene. 

"Poor guy" Sirius mused with very little sincerity touching his tone before he grinned somewhat. "We'll have to get him some Peppermint Toads for this one, Mcgonagall looked pretty angry..".

James nodded his agreement before he turned towards Remus, the bedridden boy didn't even have a hope of escape as he was cornered by the infamous Quidditch fanatic who began to rant on his favourite subject. Sirius sighed and patted his friend consolingly on the arm, at least he pair were caught in it together.


	39. My Valentine

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Seven: My Valentine**

*****

A/N: Cathy-Bloom Lives~! WoOoOhOoO. In a fantastically splendiferous mood as my school year comes to a close *bringing with it the ever important and trying dreaded *exams of doom* which actually supposedly resemble what I have accomplished during the whole year.... but still! HOLIDAYS! HOLIDAYS! I am feeling brilliantly confident for some reason (probably to do with the fact that I finished my art folio and handed it in *yesterday* to Solty's crew, hopefully they appreciate fine art ;-) ) and am rearin' to go with another chapter. Have been watching the Rugby World Cup of late and have decided I would be extremely stupendously happy if the All Blacks win, (well duh, home team y'know =P) but would be magnificently elated if the Irish kicked some ass. I am officially in love with Brian O'Driscoll, (In BO'D We Trust!) and exasperated with the unopenable chupa-chup I've been wrestling with for the last half an hour. Now that I've updated you on my pointless personal Life =P I shall move onto Review Responses, WEE! I love this part.

flying-piggy-123: Always enjoy writin chappys for this fic ^-^; for some reason it puts me in a good mood.  
faries of the wood: We may get more duel lessons, and Lils will still be making her grand appearances as often as I can shove her in there. Where's the fun in tormenting the lil Marauders if Lils isn't there to laugh at them @_@  
Carolinus Took: You remind me greatly of one of my good mates from school simply because of the 'hahaha! smacking with a glove' XD me n' old Karlalala have great laughs with that one. We plan to dress up as french people and smack people with gloves at some point in the near future.  
Daine Yuy: Thankyou ^------^ The Marauders are all sooo kawaii it isn't funny, I just feed the kawaiiness =P  
I give it all to Mr. Black: Awwww hell, I can't hold it in no longer. *Swoons* I love that name!!!! Makes me smile everytime I see it ^-^  
Eizoku: You're extremely lucky you checked the site~! If you'd missed the update I would have been most upset. *nods accordingly* Whatta scandal! Remy's one smart cookie, he might just catch on.. but then again...  
Halley: You aren't the only one hanging out for third year chickee =S I want thiiiirdddddd yeeeeaaaaaarrrrr ;; Ah but this'll be fun I promise. Siri and Remy will make another grand performance this chapter just for you.  
Lightning Rain: Poor Werewolf never catches a break does he.... Thanks for the assistance in gettin to 350 ^_^; You guys are legends!!  
The Silver Lady: 'Che! Good.  
Holly: You aren't the only who wants Siri Remy action neithers T.T but I PROMISED! ;; Come On Third Year~  
Rena Lupin: XD Everyone seems to find that so amusing.. Poor Remy *sniffsniff*  
Drama Queen8: Yeah thats right! Go Jamie ya machine ^-^;   
Romm: I have no doubt in your weirding out abilities, held in great esteem you are in the circle. *nods* Remy is quite the little thinker boy so it shouldn't take him to long to figure out what the little nutters are up to... or jump to entirely wrong conclusions ^-^ lotsa fun.   
lil' HP fan: That was a lotta 'mores' sorta reminds me of Moore. Which could lead to subliminal messages... Woah. Don't be surprised if you just inspired some more crazy Moore stuff to happen here. @_@ Thanks for the adding of favourites and the like, you're a legend. and speaking of legends.... (In BO'D We Trust!)   
Queenie2: Heyyyyy, I'm a Bloomers Buddy ^-^ Apologising for the sub-standard Marauders humor, which I too did notice. I HAVE had a few, 'issues' of late which have affected my writing substantially sooooooo.... it aint my fault? XD Nah nah, no excuses here just the hellish nightmare that they deem to call, 'exams'.  
Simple Confusion: Thankyou, thankyou ^-^; Awww shucks, you'll make me blush or somethin ^-^  
SuperDuperDucky: Another adoring fan..... Lol thankyou ^-^; I love all of these reviews, its great. Isn't it great when you find a story that you can read for hours on end and not get bored? I'm honoured to think that mine is one of those. anywho, thanks an keep on reviewing. Reviewers are my lifesource O_O  
Flame Rhiannon: Er... Thankyou ^-^; Lol, I think. I mean I know.... I mean... yeah. O_o;; Jamie thanks you too. From his own designated Marauder Mansion inside my head. -noddles-   
Baby Red: ^_______^ Moore accepts your compliments, as do I. For with Exam results on the horizon I need all the compliments I can get. CONFIDENCE BOOSTER! o.o  
The Managment: Why.. Im all of a flutter XD Cheeeers ^_^  
Rowena: Lolz sorry about the longggggg wait for this chapter, it was unavoidable im afraid, am incredibally drained. I say, exams are like giant juicers steaaaaallinnnnng all of your creative juices @_@;  
I lov Redheads w/ Fangs: Cheeeeeers ^_^  
vtangelchix: A genius?... Well if you're sure... XD I love reviewers... Such noble creatures. *noddles* ^_______^  
Slice-Sama: Thankya. Remy an Siri are gorgeous ^______^; Hopes you're no longer sick ne? 

And as a close, thankyou all for throwing me well past the 350 mark. You are all simply wonderful and I adore you all! ^_____^ Should anyone by chance also choose to become part of the cult regarding BO'D o.o;; Glad to hear it. Brilliant guy. Best Center in the world... Very Talented.... Lolz.. I have some issues here, am listening to ACDC O.o;; Nothin wrong with a bit of AcaDaca XD Right this kinda skips like.. a couple'a'weeks or so from the last chappy I think, but it was necessary I say. NECESSARY! o.o Oh right, should start actually WRITING the story then. Jolly Good. An remember girls and boys, GO THE IRISH! O_O Yissss. an GO THE GOO's o.o;   
Love Ya'z.

*****

February arrived with a frosty reminder of Winter, the thick blanket of white frosting that iced the grounds had put an end to any hopes of any Hebology lessons (a fact truly dispaired by several certain Gryffindors) and even the fanatical Gryffindor Quidditch Captain; Chris Jack, did not seem quite so enthusiastic to traipse out into the frozen grounds for Quidditch practise.

Thus it came to be that on the morning of February the Fourteenth four Marauders found themselves left to their own devices. Which in the case of one Sirius Black and James Potter, did not bode well for anyone within a fifteen mile radius. 

In fact, by the predatory gleam that had wrestled a hold of James Potter's coffee brown eyes it would seem that the resident blushing Valentines of Hogwarts Castle were about to hit a whole hurricane of trouble. Yet beside the giddy with anticipation pranksters a faintly frowning Remus Lupin was sprawled untidily in a squashy velvet armchair. A lone foot jiggling absently to a rythm which existed only inside his head as his mind brushed aside the suggestions both offending pranksters were spouting off like the bad soppy poetry spilling from the lips of a distinctly greasy fifth year in the couch neighbouring their own.

Squished into one corner of the couch was the final member of the group, listening with rapt attention as the two chief prank-masters exchanged ideas. His pale eyes would occasionally flicker towards Remus before returning to their firm resting point, somewhere between the pair of plotting pranksters.

It seemed a lifetime before Remus awoke from the boredom-induced coma he had slipped into and rose bonelessly to his feet, marring his graceful exit towards the dormitories by whacking his shin against the corner of the coffee table set in the group of chairs. He waved away Peters inquiry of where he was going with a pained grimace and half-hobbled towards the dormitories, trying to maintain his mysterious visage.

Surely enough he returned within several minutes, his guitar case was strapped firmly over his back, a backpack fitted firmly over his shoulders. Thick winter boots and a wool-lined cloak accompanied both the guitar and backpack and he gave a haphazard grin at his friends as he recieved three rather curious glances.

He shrugged off the obvious inquiry in their gazes and supplied in a mostly casual tone, "going to Hogsmeade. If people are going to waste their hard-earned money on celebrating a cheesey commercial holiday then I plan to take full advantage of it..." he trailed off with a casual tilt of his head in the direction of the guitar case on his back.

James cast a sly grin towards Sirius who winked ever so casually back before jumping to his feet. "Brilliant idea Remy! Glad I thought of it" Sirius spoke up cheerfully and James nodded his head emphatically, "I dear say it's time we take dear Rosemerta up on her offer don't you? A few drops of aging potion should clear up the little 'problem' we've been having.."

Peter stared with wide eyes between the three of them, turning the conversation over in his head as he was hauled to his feet by Sirius. "Come on now Pete, can't be late for our adoring fans now can we..." he prattled off cheerfully as he began to drag the confused boy after him towards the dormitories, leaving a rather perplexed looking Remus to stare after them a cautious frown forming on his forehead.

******

The Three Broomsticks was already full when four distinctly older Marauders strolled casually through its doorway and headed towards the bartop. Remus didn't fail to notice how Sirius' and James' eyes lit up when they caught sight of the many different couples that were gathered throughout the bar and Peter who was doing his best not to trip over anybody was averting his eyes pointedly from the group.

The illegally aged students were fitted once again in their stage clothing from the concert at the beginning of the year, although the remainder of the group noticed that Remus' had become steadily more accesorised, a fact that didn't escape any of the Marauders attention. A distinctly gothic looking cross of tarnished mock-silver hung on a black chord around his neck and the leather pants had aquired a new rip across his right shin.

Leaning against the bar, Sirius and James adopted charming grins and waved cheerily to where Madam Rosmerta was now bustling towards them smiling politely. "How can I help you boys..?" she spoke up cheerily before trailing off as she took a good look at the four boys faces and her eyes widened before she hissed out, "what on earth did you do to yourselves!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and jabbed Remus lazily in the ribs with an elbow, "its only a few drops of aging potion Rosmerta, don't throw a fit." James chuckled softly beneath his breath as the woman shook her head with obvious bemusement, "what on earth are you doing here? I'd have thought you would be up at the castle with all of your little girlfriends chasing after you.."

James adopted a distinctly disgusted look and wrinkled his nose, "girlfriend? What would I want one of those for?" he spoke up with a detectable trace of revulsion appearing in his voice. Rosmerta shook her head with amusement and muttered something undetectable beneath her breath.

"As for what we're doing here.." Sirius cut in over James with a grin in his friends direction, "we thought we'd help you out with some live entertainment for your guests Rosmerta" he opted for a cheeky grin as the woman turned her bewildered eyes onto Remus who waved cheerily and flashed a smile.

"That would explain the outfits.." she muttered faintly beneath her breath. "Well... I suppose I could.. Just for today I mean.. You really are too young to be in here..." 

The fact that the young barmaid was obviously in the middle of a mental struggle between the eternal forces of good and evil seated quite stoutly upon either shoulder did not deter Sirius in the slightest. With a broad grin in place he cut the woman off mid-way between her steadily increasing tirade in cursing both blessed angel and cursed demon throned upon her shoulders in frenzied debate. As the woman paused to blink in confusion at the beaming young lad she found him already halfway towards the stage calling back cheerily; "brilliant then! We shall go set up, right Remy? Ta Rosmerta"

Rosmerta watched in utter bemusement as the boy hauled his friend along with him towards the stage and the remaining pair somehow managed to pour butterbeers for the group of them and swagger off towards a corner table, without paying no less. By the time that she had managed to establish such facts in her mind the boys were lost amidst the crowd of predictably sloshed Valentines and the faint sounds of a guitar being tuned had already stung the crowds attention.

Shaking her head Rosmerta let out a soft sigh and allowed for the briefest of moments the impish cariacture upon her shoulder to vent it's frustration by beating the tiny angel from her neighbouring shoulder into non-existence with it's tiny pitchfork a soft disturbing snort of laughter escaped her lips; Who needed a conscience anyway?

*****

Remus' fingers nervously flipped open the lid of his guitar case and carefully withdrew his treasured possession. Toffee coloured eyes carefully watching as Sirius began to roll the piano up onto the stage beside him, he casually propped the case against the side of the piano and flashed a grin at Sirius who returned the favour.

By now some of the customers had noticed the activity on the stage and were craning their necks to get a good look at what was going on. Sirius clapped him cheerfully on the back and stepped back as Remus moved to tune his guitar, his eyes carefully roaming over the tabletops as they turned towards the noise, curiosity evident in their searching gazes.

He noticed that Sirius was lingering just off of the platform glancing towards him as though for instruction, Remus gave a lop-sided smile and waved him towards where James and Peter had snagged a table and several tankards of butterbeer. Glancing around at the distinctly curious faces turned his way he winked at Sirius before slipping the guitar strap over his shoulder and moving into the center of the stage.

His fingers ran smoothly over the guitar strings, his eyes closing faintly for brief seconds as though to gather composure, yet when his eyes re-opened it was plain to see that the honey-comb depths were self-assured, mostly due to the series of thumbs-up's the caught his eye from the corner nearest to the stage. 

He gave a faint laugh as the tinkle of glasses dimmed and the soft whispering of the room buzzed faintly in his ears, craning his neck over his guitar he struck up a tune, faintly reminiscent of a song that had played not so long ago on muggle radio stations, although the music was played in a distinctly different instrumental choice. Yet when the boy opened his mouth to sing, it seemed that nobody noticed the difference, for although his voice wasn't perfect, indeed it was distinctly rough-edged and slightly husky it seemed to fit the music perfectly.

' Everyday it's a gettin' closer, goin' faster then a roller coaster, love like yours will surely come my way. A-hey, A-hey hey. Everyday it's a gettin' faster, Everyone said go ahead an ask her, love like yours will surely come my way. A-hey, Ahey hey. Everyday seems a little longer, everyway loves a little stronger. Come what may, do you ever long for, true love from me?'

Remus chanced to glance up from his guitar and half-smiled as he found that he was being stared at quite curiously by the majority of the room by now, bending his head back over his guitar he finished off the song with a greater air of confidence. His head eventually lift to stare around at the crowd as he sung out daringly.

Even as the song came to a close he found himself grinning as smatterings of applause took up politely from the tables with occupants sober enough to establish the difference between a songs beginning and ending. Despite the lack of uproarious applause Remus found himself growing confidence and began to strum at his guitar with greater enthusiasm, a half-turn smile creeping across his face as he opened his mouth to belt out the lyrics of the newest of his repertoir, both lyrics and melody written by his brother.

'Here, comes the cold. Break out the winter clothes, and find a love to call your own... You, enter you. Your cheeks a shade of pink and the rest of you, in powder blue. Who knows... What we'll be? But I make you this guarantee, see; Noway November will see our goodbye, When it comes to December it's obvious why, No-one wants to be alone at Christmas Time..'

The gentle melody came almost to a standstill, causing several of the listeners to glance up rather suddenly at the rather impish grin that the performer now wore before it resumed.

'In the dark, on the phone. You tell me the names of your brothers and your favourite colours.. I'm learning you. And when, it snows again.. We'll take a walk outside and search the sky, like children do. I'll say to you; No way November will see our goodbye. When it comes to December it's obvious why, no-one wants to be alone at Christmas time. And come January we're frozen inside, making new resolutions a hundred times. February won't you be my Valentine? And we'll both be safe til St Patrick's Day...".

The song was soft and mellow, drawing the listeners in with a gentle lulling sound that had the different Valentines whispering over their tables once again and James in the corner looking thoroughly appalled at such atrocities. Remus couldn't help the snicker that escaped his lips at the expression on his friends face. 

Feeling himself as though he had had enough of soppy romantic songs such as this, he drew the song to a close and could not hide the devious smirk that grew across his face. It seemed that Remus Lupin's own tiny demon had beaten it's angelic equivalent into a state of coma, for with any sense of romanticism flying out the window his accoustic guitar recieved somewhat of a hammering with the violent and wonderfully fast fingers that scaled it's chords.

'Ectasy is all you need, Living in the big machine now. Oh.. You're so vain. Now your world is way too fast,Nothin's real and nothing lasts, And I'm aware, I'm in love but you don't care. Turn your anger into lust, I'm still here, but you don't trust at all, And I'll be waiting. Love and sex and loneliness, Take what's yours and leave the rest, So I'll survive, God, it's good to be alive. And I'm torn in pieces, I'm lyin there waiting for,My heart is reeling,I'm blind and waiting for you.'

The surprised stares that met him were met with a cheerful grin as the boy continued to sing, ignorant of the somewhat amused grins being sent his way courtesy of his three best friends. 

"Silly love with all your sins, Wait and stop and I begin, And I'll - I'll be waitin'. Livin' like a house on fire, What you fear is your desire, It's hard to deal, I still love the way you feel. Now this angry little girl, Drownin in this petty world, And I'm who you run to. Swallow all your bitter pills, That's what makes you beautiful, You're all a lie, I won't leave what you ain't got. And I'm torn in pieces, I'm lyin there waiting for,My heart is reeling,I'm blind and waiting for you. I'm blind and waiting for you, I'm blind and waiting for you.'

With a sweeping bow Remus met the whistles sent his way loudly by the trio seated in the corner and sent a hazy grin towards the rest of the crowd. After all, the night had only just begun.

*****

It was nearing the earliest hours of next morning when the Marauders stumbled out of The Three Broomsticks. All three smelling distinctly of a various mixture of firewhiskey and butterbeer - a small 'present' from a smirking Rosmerta. The distinctly rowdy group of four didn't appear to notice that the sickle moon was high in the clear dark sky and the soft beams of light were reflecting off of the frost bitten ground. Nor did they notice that they were being tailed quite faithfully by a jovially grinning man with closely cropped curls.

In all reality, none of the four were in any position to notice anything quite so trivial, as all four were presently engaged rather enthusiastically in a rather slurred chorus of, 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'. The unearthly sounds that managed to escape the four most convincingly sloshed boys mouths enough to cause more then a few cringes to escape their faithfully trailing companion. Yet with dogged enthusiasm the man made his cheerful way behind them, mouth hidden behind a thick scarf bearing blue and bronze stripes.

As the group of four rounded off their loud and slurred song with one particuarly rowdy member drilling out the final violin notes with a loud shrill immitation of the instrument itself the other three burst into drunkards laughter, for surely simply everything was funny when one was under the influence of far to much firewhiskey and butterbeer.

None of the performers seemed to have noticed that the aging potion they had taken had long ago worn off and that they wouldn't have stumbled half as much had they rolled up the legs of their pants. Yet as the boy on the end - the shortest and smallest of the lot tripped quite convincingly over his oversized pants he grabbed a hold of the boy beside him, seizing a quite unfortunate hold of the boys ponytail.

This succeeded in drawing out a loud yeowl of pain and the other boy gripping onto the one next to him's shoulder - who in turn grabbed a good hold of the boy on his rights oversized coat. It came to be that all four boys found themselves seated in the freezing snow and staring blankly at each other as they struggled to untangle over-sized clothing and limbs and such things. 

With quite sudden alarm the last of the four to fall - therefore being best off as he had fallen atop the other three began to laugh rather loudly. A slurred and intoxicated laugh to be sure - yet still, a laugh. This however did not bode well with one of the three buried beneath him as a rather loud and irritable Remus Lupin happened to slur back, "if you wouldn't min' getting off Siri. You're all bloody heavy..".

A timid squeak alerted them that Peter Pettigrew had agreed with Remus' sentiments and Sirius obligingly rolled off of the pile and fell splat into the snow, all the while still giggling and hiccoughing. Once the group had found themselves sorted out and seated within their own personal patch of freezing wet snow, Sirius abruptly ceased in his laughing and stared in all his drunken dignity somewhere in the space above James' head.

"'ello Professor Moore" he declared with exceptional enthusiasm and a broad grin. "Fancy meeting you here?"

The Professor in question gave a gleeful little giggle and rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. "Four little Gryffies out at nightttt" he drawled aloud his eyes practically shooting stars. "Best we see what the old coot has to say about this."

With that the Professor produced his wand, "come along Noddy, Wingnut.. and Co.. You've got an appointment with the headmaster."

*****


	40. Stamp Collections of the Solar System Th...

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Eight: Stamp Collections of the Solar System. (The secret workings of a headmaster)**

*****

A/n: Nothing much to accomplish today - just the aftermath of last chapter, I don't think there were many questions asked in reviews. So I think I'll skip individual review responses for today, this is a reasonable length chapter, at least I think it is. Well for the moment it is anyways x.x;; I had several requests to post the songs that I have used through out this fic and so my response to this is that I shall post the entire list in order at the end of the last chapter of the story, like a playlist if you like with the chapter that it debuted in. However, I'll only post each song once - so if it was repeated during the story then it'll only be shown as its first appearance. So, without further adue, I give you chaper thirty eight, as we grow closer to the end of Playing With the Boys and moving towards the third year/fourth year segment of this little quartet if you like. Any title suggestions are welcome x.x;; I'm coming up a blur at the moment though there are a few ideas swimming around in my head at the moment. Anyway, onto the chapter! Featuring; A sadistic Professor Moore, An insight into what a Headmaster of Hogwarts does in his spare time, Hungover Marauders and the effects Alchol has on a werewolf x.x;; - plus a disturbed Lily.

*****

The halls of Hogwarts were much to quiet in Remus Lupin's humble opinion, now that the pleasant buzzing sensation that the alcohol in his system had deserted him, the influences of his drink had become more of a hindrance then a self-induced indulgence. A hindrance, that Remus found himself severely wishing he didn't have, as he was currently marching ahead of a distinctly amused and sadistic Professor Moore on his way to the headmasters office.

Now even although the alcohol in his systems did tend to obscure rational thought at most of the time, Remus was well aware that being taken to the Headmaster during the middle of the night while under the influences of banned substances and being found well within the perimeters of an out-of-bounds location was in no way a good thing.

In fact, the werewolf was starting to feel rather nauseous - and he was quite sure it had nothing to do with the alcohol he had consumed that night.

He grimaced and looked up as a hand gripped onto his own and squeesed it lightly, turning his head towards the hands owner he recieved a casual wink from Sirius and another reassuring squeese of hands. Reassured that at least Sirius was sober enough to be able to think somewhat intelligibly Remus felt the nausea dwindle and shrink back into his gut again.

He could see, from the brooding posture that James had taken on Sirius' other side, that the other mastermind of their group was well into thought, most likely plotting some hairbrained scheme to get them out of punishment and Remus felt a tug at the corner of his mouth as he involunteerily gave a small smile. You could trust James Potter and Sirius Black to always be thinking before they were asked the questions - there was a reason that they had gotten some of the highest exam scores from the previous year.

Peter however appeared to be feeling the affects of his drink rather badly and was finding it bothersome to simply walk in a straight line. A fact that Professor Moore, now having been giggling in a disturbingly mad scientest-esque manner for the past half hour or so, hadn't failed to notice. Professor Moore himself, Remus had noticed quite idly, had been taking some rather dutiful swigs from his hip-flask during the last half-hour and seemed a great deal more giddy then one would usually care to associate with ones Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

In fact, by all appearances he would have to assume that Murray Moore was in the best mood that he'd ever chanced to see him in and Remus was quite sure that it had everything to nothing to do with his triumph over the four Gryffindors. By all means Remus was trying to block out the occasional rather triumphant whistling that the Professor would break into.

So aside from all of this, the halls were distinctly quiet. So Remus found it safe to assume that most everybody in the castle must have been fast asleep - a fact that he was definitely quite pleased with as it meant that Dumbledore would hesitate to bring in reinforcements - including the dreaded head of house. Finding with quiet realisation that Sirius still had quite a grip upon his hand and that his friends hand was distinctly warmer then his own Remus was dragged quite literally out of his thoughts. The realisation having been given by the fact that Sirius had stopped walking where as Remus hadn't.

Four sets of curious eyes found themselves fixed quite intently upon a surly looking gryphon which they had come to a pause before, they raised their eyebrows curiously at the strange stone statue who appeared to glaring rather sleepily at the group of them. They watched in amusement as Professor Moore grimaced quite heartily and declared in a rather sour voice towards the Gryphon, "fizzing whizzbee."

The gryphon obligingly moved aside to the grating of stone against stone, and surely enough a rather narrow but none-the-less impressive twirling staircase lay before them, glowing an odd shade of white. The four Marauders with now distinctly curioius expressions upon their faces allowed themselves to be ushered up the staircase infront of their Professor, currently indulging in another swig of strong smelling amber liquid.

Finding that Sirius was not likely to release his vice-like grip on his hand any time soon Remus made sure that he was not distanced to any great length from his now seemingly determined friend who was presently biting carefully upon his lip as they ascended the staircase. He appeared to be muttering to himself beneath his breath - some sort of motivating mantre Remus supposed, and pondered whether he should do the same - as Sirius did appear a great deal more confident then Remus did at present.

A glance towards James found that he to seemed to be muttering some sort of motivational propaganda to himself, so, quite convinced that this was the ideal thing to do Remus found himself pondering what he himself should be chanting. It wouldn't be fair should he steal one of Sirius' or James', and it certainly wouldn't be original. Plus there was the minor detail that Remus couldn't pick up exactly what either one was muttering. 

With sudden satisfaction Remus settled upon his own new inspiring mantre, for his own confidence's sake of his course. So with grim resolution the young werewolf began to mutter quietly beneath his breath, "please don't be awake.."

Squishing his eyes shut Remus found that his new motivational phrase seemed to be quite effective - it did give him something else to focus on other then the constant swirling nausea that was threatening to swill into his stomach again. He didn't notice the rather odd looks that were being cast at him by his fellow Marauders, until of course he stubbed his toe quite brutally against a rather sturdy wood-oak door.

Wincing he glanced around rather airily, by the time he found himself being shoved quite cheerfully through the now open wood-oak door Remus' motivational chanting seemed to have flown out the window - quite within reason however, as Professor Dumbledore was quite obviously very awake. Remus muttered irritably about his inoppurtune choice in chants as the headmaster beheld them with a glance of faint amusement.

Remus' eyes followed Professor Moore as he swept jovially in with the air of an aerobics instructor, clapping his hands together marvellously before eyeing Dumbledore with an air of almost rivalry, with a slow and deliberate raise of his eyebrow and slight narrowing of eyes he peered at the headmaster for several seconds, before choosing to speak. "Hello.. Albus."

The four Marauders exchanged bemused expressions as their slightly stranger-then-normal Defense teacher proceeded to attempt to stare down their headmaster with little to no reason - Dumbledore himself chuckled rather easily and glanced towards where the four boys were assembled. Two appearing to be grim and resolute while one was literally trembling - the last seeming preoccupied with muttering a strange assembly of words beneath his breath.

"Good evening Murray, was there any reason in particular you decided to stop by? I was just looking at my stamp collection - In fact I just stumbled across one of my favourites.. Haven't seen it in years. Perhaps you would like to take a look.."

Moore cast a rather withering look at the assembled stamps and the collectors book upon the table and gave out a less-then-enthusiastic, "simply fascinating..".

"Indeed, my precise thoughts actually. Although - I must say that I do rather prefer the one on the next page - from 1945 I believe, I actually found myself wrestling with the postman to get my hands on it. He didn't seem very willing to do so, poor old chap seemed rather attatched to it. He gave in in the end however, marvellous isn't it.."

The look upon Murray Moores face by now was nothing short of comical - in fact it seemed as if his good mood was dissapearing more quickly then air out of a balloon. "Silence Muppet!" came the final and rather accusatory cry from the deranged Defense professor as the headmaster continued to prattle on rather cheerfully about his oh-so-beloved stamp collection.

Remus could have sworn he saw Dumbledore wink at him as he lifted his dignified head towards the twitching Defense teacher with feigned bewilderment, "I apologise Murray, I appear to have forgotten precisely why you're here.."

A loud and distinctly haughty outcry later, followed by several swigs from a certain persons hip-flask and the slam of an oak-wood door found four Marauders very much so alone with their stamp-obsessed headmaster - and not in the least bit relieved at all.

*****

It was midday before any of the Marauders showed their weary heads - and not feeling much better for the sleep in that he had had, Sirius Black found himself stumbling bleary-eyed down into the common room, filled with the buzzing laughter that weekends brought and being observed rather sharply by a certain red-head who apparently shared no sympathy for the boy in question, for she chose that moment to yell rather loudly towards the quite obviously hung-over second year.

"Sirius! Where the hell were you all!"

The boy allowed a slow and audible grunt be his answer as he sunk into the soft plush armchairs and ignored the red-head to the best of his ability - her hair was certainly much to bright to be allowed when one was feeling quite so terrible as he, and her voice was not much better at the moment.

He let out a yelp as her hand deftly caught the back of his head and shrunk further down into his chair with a mutter of "quiet now. Sleep want.."

Lily gave an irritable grumble in the boys direction and tossed her head, finding that a rather worse for wear James Potter was now stumbling his way down the stairway that led to the boys dormitory and mumbling darkly at the unfortunate souls who managed to bar his way. He certainly did not match the profile of a person who had just gotten off the hook for some of the worst rule-breaking second year students had performed in quite a while - well, mostly gotten off the hook anyway.

James himself shrunk down into the armchair neighbouring Sirius' and burrowed his head into his shirt without any more then a slow, 'mornin'". Lily huffed loudly and rolled her eyes irritably, "afternoon actually" she corrected eyeing the headless body with a frown in place.

Time passed and soon Peter had reared his ugly head - as Sirius had put quite so eloquently and yet Remus was yet to appear in the common room - leaving three slowly recovering Marauders with frowns in places and Lily with a flicker of concern beginning to shadow in her agitated demeanour.

By the time that a further five minutes had passed James declared distinctly loudly that he was going, 'to go get that lazy buggar out of bed' and rose to his feet, accompanied with a rather convinced Sirius and a frowning Peter - a distinctly concerned Lily shadowing their steps.

What they were presented with however was something none of them had expected - especially considering how god-awful they had all felt following last nights events. It appeared that Remus Lupin was in a perfectly chipper mood - in fact, he seemed anything but a little bit TO happy.

Deciding quickly that their friend was rather to happy for what was supposed to be a sulky and hungover werewolf they moved in closer to investigate. Although he was not usually a precise 'neat-freak' their friend could be classed as liking his belongings organised in some reasonable state and it appeared that whatever had gone on inside his mind did not support this policy. For at present the majority of Remus' belongings could be found spello-taped to the cieling - precisely how they got there could be explained by the fact that he was presently bouncing rather enthusiastically upon his mattress - armed with a roll of said spellotape.

"Er...." James stared at his friend with a semblence of amusement threatening to touch on his lips - if it was only for the fact that he couldn't get his jaw to move appropriately. The sight was one he had not been expecting in the least - and if anything was all but a little bit disturbing. 

"Remy?" Sirius spoke up uneasily, eyeing his broadly grinning friend as he attempted to spellotape a rather awful looking knitted sweater to the cieling in mid-bounce, he beamed in their direction as he continued to bounce - thankfully barefoot and quite oddly still dressed in a pair of pyjama bottoms and very little else.

"Yessssss Siri?" came the perfectly chipper reply as the boy persistently attempted to fix the decidedly ugly jumper to the cieling, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he frowned with distinct concentration. 

James could feel his eyebrow twitching as Sirius chanced to speak up again - obviously testing whether there was a justification behind their friends odd behaviour. "Why exactly are you spellotaping your belongings to the cieling...?" he spoke up carefully as his friend once again hit the matress and sprung upwards again.

"Aah! Glad you asked that Siri my friend, I am creating the solar system!" Remus replied with a dazzlingly goofy smile in place upon his face. When faced with several incredibally blank stares the goofily grinning Remus began to frown, obviously frustrated with their lack of understanding in his obvious brilliance he let out a long tortured sigh - this meant he would have to explain it to them.

"There! That pair of socks... They are the moon" he declared brightly, and narrowing his eyes as he neared his sixth attempt to try and tape the jumper to the cieling he grunted out, "and this - this will be the sun. For I shall be the almighty creator!" he declared brightly, before slipping as he came into contact with the bed and landing with a thud on his back with an 'oof' as air shot out of him.

He sat in silence for several minutes, watching with curiosity as the sleeve of his now spello-taped jumper began to slowly droop down towards his bed and glanced towards the spellotape roll still held tight within his hand before smiling a marvellous smile. "Isn't my solarsystem perfect!" he declared with an air of immense pride - he glanced expectantly towards his fellow Marauders and they all nodded rather unconvincingly.

For the most creative and original group of pranksters that had ever hit Hogwarts - they certainly were some of the worst liars that Remus had ever met. With a huff of indignation he rolled off of his bed and stalked towards the group before spotting Lily and grinning broadly, "Lils! Lily mate! You can understand my genius can't you.." he gestured suavely towards the spellotaped contents of his trunk now fixed upon the roof and waited expectantly.

A nervous laugh escaped the red-heads mouth and she backed off a few steps, "um.. It's great Remus. Yeah... Really great.." Casting an odd look at the remainder of the group as though to say, 'what the hell did you do to him' she hurriedly excused herself and took off out of the dormitory with excuses made of homework or something similar.

"Siri! You can understand right? You're even in it! Look - " Remus pointed vividly towards a pair of black boxers taped quite near the moon and beamed. 

Sirius peered rather enthusiastically at the pair of boxers and suddenly grinned at his friend, "brilliant Remy. I always knew you were a cut above the rest".

James glanced disbelievingly between the pair, letting out a cross between a snort and a choke - as though each impulse to be suddenly amused and so utter disbelieving combined to create an entity known only as the 'snoke'. "You're in it to there Jim-Jim-Jimmy!" the boy added in cheerfully, pointing to a sheet of red paper - labelled rather thoughtfully as 'Jimmy'.

Upon seeing this Sirius blinked, feeling distinctly hurt - "You didn't label mine!"

Sirius' sob-story however was most overpowered by Peters sudden indignant squeak of - "What are you talking about! I'm not even on it!".

Remus however brightened and pointed at what appeared to be an owl-treat with the word 'Pete' inscribed in it. "Right there Pete m'boy!' He declared cheerfully - sounding distinctly more giddy following his friends sudden enthusiasm. Peter however didn't seem all that impressed that he was represented in the solar-system as a rather mouldy looking Owl Treat.

With a sulky looking pout he sat himself down on Sirius' bed and crossed his arms with a huff. 

*****

It was nearing dinner time as the sun set upon Hogwarts Castle, four Marauders found themselves sprawled underneath their solar system, staring up at it with a mixture of sentiment - and amusement that they could be sentimental over something so foolish as the contents of Remus' trunk being spellotaped to the ceiling. Yet the group found themselves grinning foolishly up at the strange assembly of items, eyes all fixed upon the collection of objects meant to represent someone or something - unsure of what had quite caused Remus' spurt of oddity.

Yet nobody seemed to really care - the by-product was enough to keep them occupied for now. And as Sirius spoke up quietly, an uncertain tone in comparison to his usually loud and insistent cries that their year was coming to an end the others all felt the real meaning behind it - and silently they all agreed. They wouldn't let themselves get torn apart through the years - they were best friends in the middle of their school years and right then and there, they didn't think that anything could possibly change that.


	41. No Use Crying Over Spilt Ink

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Thirty Nine: No Use Crying Over Spilt Ink.**

**An: Aaah, dun dun DUN, Welcome back the lengthy author notes. Mweheheh ^__^;**

**Has been a while since I last updated - entirely my fault I assure you, no exams or like things to blame it on this time, just a confarndededed lack of time x.x Anyways, this chapter was odd... I think it's been to long since I last wrote a chapter. None the less. ^_______^I've been watching to much Orphen me thinks.. Right, Review Responses.**

**Romm: **Yesssss, Siri would be a pair of boxers. At least.. He would be to Remy ^_____^;  
Onyx and S: Jolly good then, I've driven more then one person insane with my oddities. ^___^; I'm that one step closer to my ultimate goal... World Domination. dun Dun Dun DUN.   
Daine Yuy: ^__^; Excellent to know that I can make people laugh still. Jolly Good talent to have.  
Ardicana: Flattery gets you everywhere. Good advice that .;;   
Eizoku: You're clued.. You've got the knowledge =P Of course I'm brilliant... Well... mosta the time anyway x.x  
Silver-Sunn101: You poor girl O.O;; Deprived of the endings of my chapters! *Gasp and insert appropriate horror music* For a brief update, yes they did found out Remy was a werewolf, I think that was sometime in first year x.X   
Tears of a Fairy Queen: .;; I see, after spending several hours trying to decode exactly what you were implying by the random inserted lines of 'bump bump' I struck gold... I found the 'I love this chapter' down the bottom X.x  
Hannio: Thankyou ^____^; I usually get the incomprehendible ramblings of those insane enough to enjoy my story - good to see that you have yet to come down with the usual symptoms. ^___^ Hope you enjoy the rest of the story then ne?  
Drama-Queen8: *Beams* I got a thumbs up! Take that fools. I WILL rule the world.  
Halley: Indeed girl, you have the power of foresight it would seem... No wait... You just read my rambling ANs x.X;; Come on third year... We're almost there!  
Amaya: Hmm.. You make an interesting point that one of many gaping plot holes of this story hold... Meh ^_____^;; This is my comic relief people, it's supposed to help me write my more angsty exploits... ^_^;;  
Carolinus Took: *Stares and takes notes* Fascinating... If I had that kind of giggling power I'd SURELY rule the world x.x  
Simple Confusion: Good to know that Remus' weirdness is good for something - especially since it helps the plot. *hears echoing of the word 'plot'* Oops... I said the 'P' word x.x;;  
Rowenna: Why thankyou.. It seems I've caught the Reviewers disease... Or maybe they've caught the authors disease... Or perhaps it was just floating around in the air WAITING to be caught.  
Alesca Monroe: Patience .;; I need some activites from the book for the future years - maybe the deal with willow will come in in the 3rd/4th year segment of the story?  
BabyRed: *Drifts away to drool over BO'D photos* ^______________^ In BO'D WE TRUST!  
warriorGL: Indeed.. he did seem rather high.. .;; Maybe he isn't telling us something? Happy New Years/Late Christmassy thing to you to.  
Ronda-Silverpaw: Honestly... DOES NOBODY READ MY AN's? oh wait... they do x.x;; Or maybe it's just Halley.. Anywho, thankyou thankyou. the Master Storyteller feels honoured.. *coughs and ducks random cans and coffee mugs thrown by muses* Why can't you let me wallow in my glorified world. x.x;;  
Flame Rhiannon: ^___^;; Jolly Good, I have spread the insanity even further I fear. Good for you ^__^; Knives are good. My security guard agrees with you. ^___^;  
Rena Lupin: =P Poor Remy.. He's just a misunderstood genius in his own right. ^________^  
Christina: Thankyou very much. I'm a pink quill. Yes, that certainly is a sign of my supreme reign. After all, what kind of person wouldn't be represented as a pink quill @_@;;. 

Thankyou all for reviewing! Cathy-Bloom is in a spiffy mood due to an over-dose on caffine. Currently adding the following to her growing list of obsessions: Seto Kaiba (Mostly cause I can), Another tick for Good Ol' Orli (Cause of the gorgeous poster situated at the end of my bed =P), the entire DVD series of Orphen (cause its so great ^___^) and the Brooke Fraser Cd (Cause her songs are funkeh) and Guy Sebastian (Cause Lil Sarah would kill me for not doing so x.X).

*****

Exams. The mere word was enough to cause fear and animosity to flow through the halls of Hogwarts. The rank smell of students who hadn't bathed for days as they believed that study was a cause far greater then cleanliness reigned in the classroom and hallways - it even appeared to have taken hold of those whose hygeine in normal circumstances was far below par, in fact it appeared that Severus Snapes hair was playing host to more grease then the entire deep-frying vat inside the Leaky Cauldron (which was rumored to not have been cleaned since the early 1900's).

Yet that was besides the point, quite contrary to Sirius Blacks own belief - as he tended to point out this fact on a regular basis these days. 

The fact that the dreaded end of year exams were looming over the heads of the misfortunate second years had had many trembling, fainting and the odd seisure or, in the case of four particular Gryffindors; destroying the little confidence that the timid first years had concerning their upcoming exams.

Well, to be more precise, three of four Gryffindors were busy destroying the first years confidence, the fourth was watching on in a vain attempt to look disapproving while hiding his face in his hands in an attempt to stop snickering. 

Remus Lupin let out a soft snort of laughter as the latest victims moved off whispering fearfully amongst each other while three of four Marauders burst into inexhaustable laughter, the werewolf however hurriedly concealed his amusement and managed to frown rather convincingly when a dissaproving red-head frowned his way.

"Guys.." he spoke up fruitlessly before having to cover his mouth again as he broke into a new round of laughter and had to bury his face in his arms while banging loudly on the table with his fist. Needless to say, Lily Evans was not the least bit amused.

"It isn't funny!" she hissed valiantly in the boys direction green eyes flashing indignantly, "what if someone had did that to us last year! You wouldn't've been laughing then would you!"

Sirius Black rose his head and wiped twinkling blue eyes with his sleeve, experimentally opening his mouth to see if he had his laughing under control before speaking, "as I recall Lily dear it was you who tried to convince the four of us that we had to fight off a real live manticore for our Defense exam..."

The girls mouth hung open for several minutes as her cheeks caught aflame and she let out a loud huff. "I was just saying what I heard a group of second years telling Kerry..." 

She trailed off as though struck with thought as Sirius Black exchanged a knowing look with his partner in crime who nodded his head smugly as though he knew something that she didn't. "Precisely Lily my dear!" James Potter broke in suavely with a broad smile, as though to console her for not noticing the minor detail earlier, "you of all people should realise Lils, it's tradition!"

Lily whipped her head towards Remus for support and recieved only a very consoling snort of laughter before the boy dissolved into snickers again, his face buried in his arms and only the tell-tale shaking of his shoulders to show for his obvious amusement. "I give up!" she declared stormily and with a huff had tossed her hair over her shoulder and packed her bag before storming off out of the library.

"Y'know Siri..." James spoke up cheerfully clapping his friend on the shoulder, "she seems to be getting rather good at her dramatic exits. Have you been giving her special tuition or what..?" the boy trailed off with a conspiritive gleam in his eyes - contributed to but the eery way that light was bouncing off his glasses and an eery smile.

Sirius let out a haughty sniff of indignance, "well I never! You should know by now that my specialty Jim my lad is dramatic entrances.. Exits are Remy's department... Hey. Quit that. Jimmy! Quit looking at me like that.. No seriously mate, it's creepy. STOP IT!"

Remus glanced upwards, his curiosity getting the better of him and was met with the sight of Sirius brandishing a work and rather heavy volume in James direction as though it were a weapon while James still sported the distinctly creepy expression he had defiantly perfected. 

"Y'know Jamie.. Maybe it's time you two looked at getting a marriage counsellor.." Remus spoke up cheerfully, once again drawing attention towards him as he beamed up at them from his vantage point, one of the librarys infamous back-breaking chairs. He found however, that perhaps this hadn't been the wisest of observations, as both Sirius and James honed in on him like birds of prey and advanced menacingly with eyes gleaming in a distinctly alike and decidedly eery expression.

"Just kidding..?" he tried weakly as he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh Remus... You're ever so witty.." James drawled aloud as his glasses flashed in the candle light.

"You're so right James m'lad. He's simply hilarious isn't he?" Sirius echoed, seemingly growing several feet in height as the pair loomed over the table at which the werewolf sat, his chair now tilted back onto two legs. 

With a tremendous crash the chair finally gave way, thudding backwards and catapaulting Remus to an untimely and most certainly painful crashlanding on the hard-floors of the Library, with the chair however came the table - and with the table came a considerable work load of books, ink, quills and parchment. A distinctly canine whimper escaping their friends lips two bemused Marauders forgot their intimidation process and peered curiously over the upended table. 

Seated in a see of books and parchment, splattered with ink and with a quill stuck in his hair they watched with amusement as their friend rubbed the base of his spine with a tremor in his lips. As one the trouble-making pair burst into laughter as their friend now drenched with ink carefully extracted himself from the mess and glared half-heartedly at his friends, his hair dripping black ink down his forehead.

"A little help here?" the werewolf grunted out, his eyes shimmering as he rubbed his forehead where a giant red welt was beginning to form. He glanced up as a hand was extended to him and took the smallest Marauders hand gratefully, eyeing the still laughing pair indignantly. 

Peter smiled sheepishly as though to hide his laughter and hurriedly looked away as a large drip of black ink dripped off of the end of Remus' nose. "Thanks Pete" the werewolf muttered dryly with a pointed glare in the others direction before letting out a yell of pain as something collided with his head.

It seemed that similar occurences had occured around him - for he thought he heard his friends let out yelps of pain as though they to had been hit by heavy objects. When the loud screech filled his ears he felt that he knew precisely what was happening.

"How dare you! Making such a racket in the library! You - all of you should know better! Such a MESS! In the Library! How dare you! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!"

The roar of Madam Pince was unmistakable - and undisputable, which was reason enough for the four boys to scarper for their lives as the Libraries minder sent waves of the heavy volumes dive bombing them with her wand. A loud wail escaping Sirius' mouth all four of them ran blindly for the door, ducking and waving off the assaults of the merciless books.

The heavy doors slammed shut behind them, echoing the vicious parting remarks of, " - and don't come back!" 

Four still rather dazed stares fell upon the Library doors with bemusement before James began to snicker to himself, soon followed by Sirius who nudged Remus lazily in the ribs who huffed loudly before drifting into laughter, Peter himself was frowning at the doors, his watery blue eyes troubled as he spoke aloud softly, "what about our exams guys? How are we supposed to study if we can't get any books out.."

Realisation dawned upon the others and they returned to staring at the Library doors with trepadition spawning in their eyes. "Bloody hell" Sirius whispered aloud, for the first time seeming to be alarmed. "What if we fail.." Peter whispered out nervously, "what if they don't let us come back?".

*****

A sulky pout had attatched itself to Remus Lupins lips as he wrung his hair out with a grimace into the basin, he watched black splotches hit the white porcelain before slowly trickling down towards the drain. He glared pointedly into the mirror as soft snickering was detected from behind him.

James Potter leaned languidly back against the small space of wall between two shower stalls and smiled broadly at his friend. "No need for that Remy, it wasn't my fault that you went and spilt ink all over yourself..."

A sour glare was all that was produced and James laughed nervously and waved his hands dramatically as though fending Remus' glare away. "Alright alright, so maybe it was partly my fault... but it isn't my fault that we got kicked out of the library!"

Another rather patented glare was sent towards the Potter who gave a loud sigh of defeat, "alright already! So maybe that was partly my fault as well! But it's not like you aren't gonna pass your exams anyway! Plus we can always aquire some library books in other ways.."

James trailed off and shrugged slightly. "We can always bug the first years in other places anyway - like the common room" he deducted cheerfully with a casual wink towards Remus' reflection before standing up straight and sauntering out of the bathroom - most likely to update Sirius and Peter on Remus' progress on getting the damned permanent ink out of his hair and off of his skin. 

Remus peered at his reflection and sighed aloud - currently he looked like some sort of art project gone wrong. Lines of ink had dripped down his face and stained that way, not to mention the many patches of his hair that were still drenched in ink - and most likely stained black.

With a grimace the werewolf picked up his washcloth and began to scrub violently at his face, bringing his face up to stare at his reflection he sighed aloud at the large smears of black that now covered his face. This was certainly not Remus Lupin's day.

With a defeated glare he tossed the washcloth into the basin and turned on his heel to traipse defeatedly into the dorm room with a glare in the others directions before flopping down on his bed with a humph of indignance. His eyes resting casually upon the dangling sleeve of one of his more ugly sweaters, he half-smiled at the collection of spello-taped items with amusement.

He still hadn't figured out what had possessed him to do it - Sirius had suggested that perhaps he had had a lapse of insanity and become a raving lunatic for a couple of hours, James had proposed with a disturbed glare in his other friends direction that maybe alcohol had different after-effects on Werewolves - Remus had decided to go with the second alternative.

His eyes drifted from his self declared sun towards the moon, his smile stretching broader as he observed the objects clustered closely around its surface - with the air of someone with the knowledge of a personal joke. 

Sirius - black silk boxers, it had amused him somehow in his strange state and those boxers had reminded him of his friend. The black had of course represented his friend immediately - not only for his namesake but for his over-all impression - mysterious and sometimes scary in all his intensity. Silk - that represented his appearance - perfect in every aspect and unflawed and as for the boxers - Remus had yet to discover his reasoning behind them.

James too he felt he had characterised to perfection. Red paper - the label he figured had been an afterthought. Red for patriotism, he was fiercely loyal to Gryffindor, though Remus figured it ran much deeper then that. Red for passion and his occasional temper and the parchment made sense to Remus now, James was yet to be defined, he was like a piece of parchment that had yet to be written on.

Peter, well Peter was Peter. He was by far the least noticable of the three objects, the pale colour of the owl treat seemed to almost blend with the off-white cieling. He hadn't discovered his reasoning behind his choice for Peter yet - it seemed as if he had drawn a complete blank. Remus' smile grew slightly, he remembered precisely what James had asked when faced with an afternoon spent 'star-gazing' at the universe.

'But which one are you?' 

The werewolf felt his lips curl with amusement, he remembered the exact expression on James' face when he hadn't replied - it had been as if it had suddenly clicked in his friends mind as he saw what the three representations of his friends had been gathered around. He was the moon. 

An odd quirk of his lips found his smile drooping slightly, the thing that had governed every single moment of his life that he could remember - his very being flexed to its pull - his strength waxing and waning like the tides. A sigh escaped his lips as he raked his fingers through his fringe, his mouth forming a very thin line as his hair flopped back down upon his face. He often found himself wondering what it would have been like if he hadn't been bitten - if he had grown up like a normal kid.

Would his parents be proud of him? Would they not hide him away whenever they knew company was coming?

He shook his head squeesing his eyes shut as though to clear his thoughts before grimacing as a loud and gutteral growl escaped from his stomach. He cracked one eye open to glare at the offending region, he certainly wasn't going to go to the great hall covered in ink.

Stubbornly setting his jaw Remus sank back onto his bed and resumed his 'star-gazing' with a solemn stare. 

A light cough nearly caused him to jump as his eyes flickered towards the source of the noise. What he found however made his eyes brighten and a smile creep slowly across his face, "you guys are idiots.. You know that right?"

"Well documented fact mate.." Sirius replied cheerfully, winking broadly.

"How about some dinner then..." James trailed off with a pointed wink as Sirius and Peter hauled Remus to his feet and began to frog march him towards the door way. The werewolf stared around at his friends with baffled eyes, the splatters of peacock blue, scarlet red and midnight blue that stole out patterns across their faces dripping from their hair.

"Why'd you do it?" he finally managed to get out, his eyes filled with curiosity.

Sirius smirked at this, puffing out his chest and winking again as James and Peter looked toward him expectantly. "What are friends for aye Remy? After all... We couldn't have you stealing my spotlight now could we?".

Remus let out a disbelieving groan and allowed himself to be dragged down through the common room and down towards the Great Hall.


	42. Playing With The Boys

**Playing with the Boys  
Chapter Fourty: Playing With The Boys.**

**A/n: ***cowers in fear from the wrath of the reviewer nazis* .;; I'm so very, very, very sorry. Please accept my offering of Peace *nudges forwards a very reluctant array of chocolate covered Marauders* ^____^ Easter-y Goodness. I suppose you could say that this update took so long to get out because I simply did not want to do it. For this marks the end of an era my friends! The End of Playing with the Boys. *sniffs* I can't believe it! I first began this story on the 24th January 2004, over a YEAR ago. It's been a hell of alot more successful then I ever expected it to be.. X.x;; But yet, its still only the first installment of the series o_O;; Dear god what have I gotten myself into x.x But finally, for all of you who have been hassling me for the Slash to begin, it is time for the third year/fourth year section. Argh! As I promised to you all there will be a list of all of the songs that I have used in this fic, in the order that I used them without repeating those I have used more then once. But dear god I'll miss this ficcy x.x;; I love it to pieces. I've already began my revamping of the first chapter, just fixing up all those terrible errors that I've made and restructuring some of it. ^_^;; Oh hell, Thankyou all of my reviewers and loyal readers of this fic, hopefully the second installment will attract your attention ^_^. More details as to the second part are at the end of the page, for now I urge you onto enjoying the last chapter. Even if it is a little bit patchy - I couldn't help it. My mind is trying to hold up the creativity block thats had me barred from this ficcy for months... Ahem, anyway, without further ado, I present to you the final chapter of Playing with the Boys. ^___^

**********

The Great Hall was a sea of whispering students. The soft flickering of candle-light hovering over the tables set a dramatic shadow to the entire hall. The glittering stars that shone overhead were a polished effect to the dramatic murmuring that hovered - ever present amongst the nervously squirming students.

The End of Year feast was always a spectacular event to behold and it set even the most rebellious of students into silent frenzy, the entire hall was filled to brimming, indeed it appeared that the only person missing from the action was the Defense Against Darks Arts Professor himself. It was here that the Marauders fell into silence for the first time of the year, awaiting anxiously the results of the House Cup - and more importantly awaiting for the presentation of the Quidditch Cup. They squirmed in their seats, Sirius screwing up pieces of the paper napkins and flicking them idly towards the Slytherin table in an attempt to rid himself of the nerves that had set in. James had taken hostage the salt and pepper shakers and was creating pyramids of salt and pepper crystals upon the white table-cloths.

Peter was shifting absently in his seat, reading a well-worn Sherlock Holmes comic book under the table while Remus hummed absently beneath his breath. However, the second that Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat - wearing a pair of lurid emerald green robes, all four snapped to attention. 

The whispering died away and silence held the air as all eyes within the hall turned expectantly towards their headmaster who cleared his throat experimentally before smiling broadly. "Well, we have come to another end of year at Hogwarts again at last," he declared peering around the hall over the top of his half-moon glasses, "and I expect you are all extremely hungry. So I will not waste your time with my waffling, I shall get straight to the important part. The winner of the house cup."

The entire hall seemed to tense, leaning unconsciously in Dumbledore's direction with hypnotised stares resting upon the brilliantly gleaming cup that Professor Flitwick had placed upon the table in front of the Headmaster. The headmaster stood in silence for several moments, his eyes fixed with a fond expression upon the cup that seemed to be gleaming so - invitingly to him. It was almost as though the magnificent trophy were speaking to him - as if it were willing him to pick it up and keep it.

The wisened headmaster cast a shiftly glanced around the hall as he opened his mouth to speak, his throat seemed unsually dry for some reason and his palms were decidedly slick with sweat. "The winner.. of the house cup" he began again, his eyes shifting back towards the gleaming trophy with a gulp.

The entire hall seemed to shift several inches closer to the staff table, their seats making a sharp groan against the floorboards as they scraped forwards. It became apparent after several moments however that the headmasters inner monologue was not functioning quite as it should be, as the man appeared to be debating with himself aloud, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper as his eyes settled upon the gleaming prize that sat before him.

"Why shouldn't I keep it?" they heard him deliberate with a hint of desperation creeping into his tone. "I am the headmaster.. It should be mine!".

As the students began to murmur nervously amongst themselves a loud slap of hands against a table rang through the hall and the heads of the students snapped up. Albus Dumbledore now cradled the House Cup under one arm, his eyes steely with determination as his mouth curved into a jovial smile. "After the counting of the House Points and the decision of the faculty, it has been decided that the winner of the House Cup this year is... Me."

With a delighted giggle and the uproar of anger that erupted from the four tables Dumbledore proceeded to cling with all his might to the prized trophy. Three Heads of Houses rounded on him and dove in a chaotic surge, ripping at the handles of the trophy with all their might in an attempt to claim it for their own. All the while Dumbledores despairing cries of, "my precious!" rang through the hall and over the student body.

The students watched in good-humor as their heads of houses proceeded to duke it out for the possession of the House Cup while the Ravenclaws sulked with marvellous conviction, as their Head of House was absent and therefore it seemed they had no show of attaining the coveted trophy for their own.

As the students began to chant in support for their Head of House nobody seemed to notice that the door of the Great Hall had swung open, or that a long vine like rope had appeared from seemingly nowhere - needless to say nobody had even noticed the large platform that had been fashioned somewhere near the cieling, until of course a loud wailing sound interrupted the feuding Houses and confusion turned to wonder, as they watched a blurred tartan pattern swing through the air at tremendous speeds and land with a thud in the center of the Staff Table.

A Ravenclaw sixth year, taking up his cue jumped up upon his seat and bellowed out at the top of his lungs. "IT'S A BIRD!"

Sirius, seeing that this Ravenclaw was obviously directing a challenge to him directly - as it was Sirius' job to be the most outlandish at all celebratory feasts, jumped up upon the Gryffindor table-top and directed a stunning glare in the Ravenclaws direction before roaring out. "NO! IT'S A PLANE!"

There was an uproar of tremendous cackling from the figure who now stood, arms crossed over his chest, head thrown upwards in the direction of the sky and a light wind ruffling his rather familiar kilt. "NO FOOLS!" he declared in a triumphant tone, "IT IS I! MANLY-MAN!"

There was a gasp that originated from somewhere at the Hufflepuff table and wound its way over the entire hall before Remus, with a decidedly twitching eyebrow, rose out of his own seat and in an attempt to stop the swarm of gushing whispers that had taken over the tide of the hall spoke up hopelessly, "... Uh.. Guys... It's Professor Moore. Guys? GUYS?"

The Ravenclaw table erupted into tumultuous applause as their Head of House swiped the House Cup from the greedy paws of the Headmaster and held it aloft with a triumphant holler of, "VICTORY!" The Ravenclaws echoed their head of house enthusiastically, punching the air triumphantly.

Meanwhile at the Gryffindor table, Remus Lupin let out a sigh of exasperation and began to smack his head valiantly against the table-top. "Fifty seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine.."

Yes, End of Year feasts were always spectacular events, one way or another.

James Potter scowled irritably to himself and turned towards the table where someone had been thoughtful enough to start sending the food up to them. It simply wasn't fair - the Ravenclaws always won everything.

******

The midday sun streamed through the compartment window as the country side tore its way past in blurs of green, gold and grey. To Remus Lupin it was the end of another school year, and the beginning of what promised to be an extra-ordinarily uneventful holiday season. Or at least, that was what he most glumly presumed, as the news that his brother would be unfortunately detained in his latest job in Australia and unable to come home to visit had reached him the previous evening.

His hands were absently fingering the cords of the guitar that rested lazily upon his lap, one hand casually supporting the neck as the other plucked absently at chords while his eyes followed the current display of boredom induced idiocy that had overcome his friends. For Sirius Black and James Potter had devised another of their most infamous plans to rid themselves of boredom, which by all appearances, seemed to have been derived from the torturous invention of Professor Moores which he had deemed to call 'Defense Cricket'.

With a surprised yelp Remus hurriedly ducked his head just in time to avoid the smooshy remains of the cauldron cake that was serving as their ball as it came hurtling towards his head. With a curious glance backwards he watched the cake slowly slither its way down the wall behind him. A semi-amused smile finding its way onto his lips he raised an eyebrow questioningly towards the pair who were grinning somewhat dubiously at him as though expecting him to explode. 

"It really is to cramped in here to be playing cricket..." he spoke up finally with an air of disinterest, glancing somewhat loftily towards the glass door of the compartment.

James caught his gaze and followed it, an expression of dawning hitting his eyes as his glasses slid several centimetres down the bridge of his nose. "Very cramped" he agreed as his eyes lit up and carefully rose to glance back towards his friend. 

Sirius, never having been one to be left out of a dawning-of-realisation moment, or left out of the planning of activities concerning their happy foursome casually perked an eyebrow. Edging towards the door of the compartment and snagging onto the collar of Peters robes, who had been quite happily enthralled in another of his Sherlock Holmes comics and swigging butterbeer.

With the sudden application of leverage to his robes however Peter found the butterbeer cluttering to the floor and spilling unceremoniously over the carpet, accompanied by a fluttering comic book falling oh-so-terribly out of his reach. Soon enough three Marauders were clambering out of the compartment, dragging a fourth behind them who was scowling somewhat irritably and banging wildly on the compartment doors neighbouring theirs.

As irritated heads began popping out of the respective compartments and ranting began from the former-head-girl who had been strategically placed in a compartment near the infamous trouble-makers, it seemed that the trouble that had been caused in previous years, would be nothing to what was about to happen.

*****

A dull roar echoed down the walls as a tennis ball was carefully polished upon the uniform robes of a grim-faced competitor. Sirius Blacks eyes narrowed shrewdly as they took in his opponent, and behind him the eyes of his wicket-keeper. The batsmen ahead of him weilded his beaters club with the air of experience, their eyes locked as Sirius began his run-up, carefully making sure to avoid hitting both the umpire and the off-strike batsmen as he let loose the tennisball in a direct-line for their make-shift wickets. 

With a wild smack the ball sailed away over Sirius' head, passing directly between his fingertips and tailing away down the carriage with the marauders dorm-mate Locke in hot pursuit. When Peter, the acting umpire of the day, rose his hands in salute of a six a loud cry of "HUZZAH!" rose up from the spectators (all squished into the opened up compartments along the carriage.) Remus Lupin threw down his beaters club in favour of letting his own leading charge of "HUZZAH!" take place. 

Sirius scowled at his friend who beamed broadly back as the spectators echoed back his own, 'HUZZAH!' with an enthusiastic rivalling "HUZZAH!" of their own. Of course however, Remus couldn't let this challenge be passed without allowing an additional, "HUZZAH!" to come forth from his lungs - which was repeated in due fashion by the becoming frustrated spectators, who simply could not be beaten by this cocky young batsmen. Remus however, was inclined to protest his own right to be the sole, "HUZZAH!"ing champion, and therefore crowed out a splendid "HUZZAH!" that had all prior "HUZZAH!"'s put to indefinite shame.

Having been duely beaten the spectators joined the bowler in scowling at the batsmen, who appeared to have taken full rights to "HUZZAH!"ing to the maximum. Huffing with what could be indignation the spectators turned to muttering the unfairness of it all, after all, they should by rights have been the sole "HUZZAH"-ing company, they were of course the crowd so it was only fair. 

As the batsmen however opened his mouth to let out another triumphant crow of "HUZZAH!" to finalise his wonderful six, he was cut off by the indisputable roar of, "out!".

With a baffled expression the werewolf turned distinctly wide amber eyes towards the now beaming bowler who in turn pointed most casually to the wickets behind Remus. With all the perplexity in the world the werewolf turned towards his stumps and stared in curiosity at the fact that James was holding up the tennisball that had upset them. With a disbelieving expression Remus turned towards Sirius again who seemed in a terribly splendid mood, as he was currently displaying his best victory-dancing skills, following the defeat of his friend before Remus opened his mouth to let out a loud and groaning, "awwww c'mon REF!"

James sighed and clapped a hand on his were-wolf friends shoulders, fully intending on explaining that they were indeed, not playing soccer nor rugby, and therefore he should be appealing to the umpire, not the ref. But he didn't get very far however as Remus silenced him with a curt look and took off in a dramatic looking slow-motion run towards the other end of the crease.

Now Peter Pettigrew had never been the bravest of boys and today was not to be an exception. After all, when faced with a possibly enraged werewolf charging at you at minimum speeds with little to no hope of running or finding cover there was only one option left and this was the option that Peter openly took. For with a wail he dropped into a fetal cowering position and let out a loud and desperate squeaking wail of, "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!"

It was these words that caused Remus to pause in mid step and raise an eyebrow, as he was accustomed to do in such situations, before plummeting with all the grace of a flying hippopotamus into the carriage floor with a resounding 'pthunk' and a whimper that sounded distinctly like "mummy". 

With both boys hurriedly scrambling to their feet in an attempt to regain their dignity and poise it appeared that the spectators would not have a sparse amount of entertainment. With Peter trying to look as small and insignificant as possible and Remus casting a sheepish scowl around himself, before combing a hand through his hair in a very 'Fonz'-reminscent way in an attempt to regain some poise and let out a snarky yell of, "I meant to do that!"

It was at this moment, luckily for the distinctly flaming-cheeked pair, that the hawk-eyed former-headgirl, in the last act of her duty to the school swept in upon them with the devastation of a Hurricane. Successfully shutting down the enlgorged game of Train Cricket, as it had been lovingly dubbed by James Potter. With a no-nonsense expression she began ushering students back into their compartments before taking it upon herself to stand outside in the corrider glaring meaningfully at any who went so far as to even peer out of their compartments.

Once again confined to the four walls of their dreary compartment, Remus and Peter exchanged sheepish glances and avoided the inquisitive stares of both James and Sirius dutifully for the following twenty minutes time. This was the point in where the blurred green, golds and greys outside the window first began to incorporate some reddish browns, which certainly meant they were closing in on the half-way point of the train-ride.

This brought Remus once again slumped in his seat - having shifted several inches sideways to avoid the cauldron cake splatter - and once again thumbing the chords of his guitar, eyes focused upon the strings as Peter resumed his pawing of his comic and Sirius and James conversed in loud tones about their plans for the summer. 

They didn't even seem to notice as Remus began to pick out an actual tune, which was unfamiliar to them as he began to sing along with his music. Remus didn't seem to care as they caught on and turned curious eyes upon their friend to listen. "Say it was the right time, to walk away. When dreamin' takes you no-where, It's time to play. Bodies workin' overtime, money don't matter, time keeps tickin', someones on your mind. - I'm movin' in slow motion, it feels so good, its a strange anticipation - Knock-knock-knockin' on wood. Bodies workin' overtime, its man against man. And all that matters, is baby who's ahead in the game. Funny but it's always the same... Playin', playin' with the boys, stayin' playin' with the boys. Off to chase the sunsets, one of lifes simple joys is playin' with the boys."

He paused and glanced up to find their eyes resting on him and blinked several times before raising an eyebrow cooly, with the composure that he had become famous for he declared smoothly, "yes?" 

The first among them to take the challenge was Sirius, who leaned forward to stare him eerily in the eyes, a declaration of "yeeeesssss?" echoing from his throat as he raised his eyebrow in symmetry with Remus'. 

Remus frowned and rolled his eyes. James coughed loudly and the pair turned to look at him curiously. "Well..?" he spoke up with a superior frown in place and the pair exchanged glances.

"Well what?" Remus finally conceeded, eyeing the bespectacled boy with a disarming stare as he leaned forwards unconsciously to get a better look at him.

"Well - aren't you going to finish your song?" James conceeded with the air of one talking to a small child who couldn't understand 'big words'.

Remus muttered indignantly and set a glare upon the Potter boy before returning to the earlier tune he had been picking out, after getting back into the rythm he made a face in James' direction and opened his mouth to continue singing. "Said it was the wrong thing for me to do, I said it's just a boys game, that girls play too. My heart is workin' overtime. In this kinda game, people get hurt. I'm thinkin that the 'people' is me. If you wanna find me I'll be, Playin', playing with the boys. Stayin', playin' with the boys. Off to chase the sunsets, one of lifes simple joys - is the boys." 

"I don't wanna be the moth drawn to your fire, I don't wanna be obsessed by my desire... - I'd rather play with the boys - I'm stayin' here you play to rough. Playing, Playin' with the boys. I'll be staying, Playing with the boys. Off to chase them sunsets, one of lifes simple joys is playin' with the boys..." Remus trailed off as the door to the compartment was swung violently open and unintentionally flinched and scurried back several meters to the very corner of the seat - unintentionally squishing one James Potter into the window.

Not that the Potter boy blamed Remus Lupin one bit, for what the boy had seen was enough to scare anyone - or for that matter any living creature. It was a vision of such horror that James could feel his throat running suddenly dry, and he found himself trying to squish even further into the corner, he noted that Peter had somehow found himself on the floor and was attempting to wriggle between two of their trunks which had come loose from where they had been stashed under the seats.

Sirius alone greeted the new-comer with any warmth, a charming smile swimming across his face as he declared with a would-be-cheerful voice. "What a pleasant surprise..." he began looking up to beam at the form of the towering former-head-girl. Her eyes gleamed eerily in the dim carraige light and Sirius' smile faltered upon his lips, a nervous gurgle escaped his lips and he followed the example of his fellow Marauders and backed up at a hasty pace.

"You're making to much noise" she accused with a glowing stare.

Remus gulped slightly and attempted to hide the guitar from view in a rather pathetic display as he nodded his agreement. "Yes, to much noise" he echoed and a creepy smile filtered over the girls face as she swung her long braid over her shoulder (it had grown back surprisingly fast after James had decided to test just how far they could push their new Head Girl..). 

"Glad we've come to an understanding boys" she declared with a smirk before turning on her heel and closing the compartment door with a snap behind her. As collective sighs escaped the group hidden behind within the compartment, she smiled to herself. Strolling down the corridor at a leisurely pace as she began to humm along to herself good-naturedly, once you had the Marauders under your thumb being Head Girl really wasn't all that much of a bad job really.

"... off to chase the sunsets.. One of lifes simple joys is Playin' with the Boys.."

*****

Smirking over their most recent accomplishment in officially 'pissing off the Head Girl' the Marauders were in extremely good spirits. Good enough, Sirius had concluded, to give them reason to act like the resident lunatics. With a pro-efficient gleeful little snicker he sprung to his feet - an act that caused Peter to jump in his seat, James to drop the tennis-ball he had been tossing into the air and Remus to strike a sour-chord on his guitar. Needless to say, Sirius had just gained his friends attention.

He beamed with an air of superiority down at his friends as they all returned to their previous activities, the absent strumming of Remus' guitar providing appropriate background music as Sirius fingertips were drawn together. "Guys.. " he declared with a dazzling broad-way mint smile, "I have an idea."

Peter gasped, James yelped as his tennis-ball hit him in the eye and Remus hit a dramatic note on the guitar.

"An idea?" Remus echoed dutifully and James covered his mouth, adding the ominous sound effects of, "dun dun DUN."

Peter managed a weak smile and began to mutter absently beneath his breath - obviously being reminded of the last time that he had been confronted with one of Sirius' Ideas - which had inevitably led them to the mercy of Argus Filch. He shuddered visibly with distaste, muttering a dark and save hiss of, "Filch" aloud.

With several somewhat concerned glances in Peters direction, Sirius abruptly cleared his throat and waved his hands in an attempt to redirect the attention to him. It was when he began to reveal his diabolical scheme that the door was whipped open, an eery smile filtered across the Black boys face as his eyes turned craftily towards the somewhat unnerved looking Trolley Lady. Remus let out a soft groan and began to bang his head against the glass window pane. "Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight.."

******

James Potter was fairly sure that he never wanted to hear the word 'Lunch Trolley' ever again cross the lips of his best friend. 

Even if the prank had been a successful endeavour for the Marauders - and the look on the Slytherins faces had, indeed, been priceless. Yet the ominous glare that awaited them on the face of the Lunch Lady as their little joy-ride courtesy of the Lunch Ladies trolley. He none-the-less grinned as the trolley came to its rolling halt before the lady herself and the four teenagers clambered off of the contraption beaming broadly at one another.

He wondered absently whether the Slytherins would ever get over the shock of having four Gryffindors raid their compartment armed with loads of creampuffs and cauldron cakes - needless to say, their rivals had been suitably coated in both cream and cake by the time they had made their dramatic get-away upon the trolley itself.

It was funny, James had never imagined you could fit four growing teenagers onto the top of the contraption.

The point of the matter however, was that they had been led straight back to the Lunch Lady herself - a fact that made James rather suspicious of the trolley itself. Absently brushing cauldron cake crumbs from his robes he endeavoured upon a charming smile that he was in the process of mastering and slipped his hands behind his back.

He didn't even want to know what the Lunch Lady was thinking as a suspicious looking smirk smothered her face.

*****

Remus Lupin wasn't sure if he'd ever seen King's Cross Station quite so busy. The Four Marauders found themselves being elbowed and shoved in all sorts of uncomfortable places - not that they weren't giving as good as they were getting. In fact it appeared by the sounds of things, that Sirius and James had made a game out of it. As a first year went sailing in Remus' direction and he hastily rebounded him in the opposite direction Sirius called out his score, "definitely a six Remy, you didn't put the effort into it!"

James concluded that it was indeed only a six while elbowing a gargantuan Slytherin fifth year in the ribs as they were carried across the tide of human bodies. "This is insane" came the wail from somewhere below them, where Peter it seemed had finally succumbed to the tide and was now somewhere around Remus' ankles. With collective sighs the three standing Marauders heaved the boy to his feet.

As a heavy elbow clouted Remus in the spine it appeared that the game was quickly becoming old - and they needed only to look to Sirius to find the inevitable answer to their problems. Making a desperate lunge towards the nearest platform pole they watched with fascination as he clambered up it into the air before crying out at the top his lungs, "STAGE DIVE!"

Almost immediately by reflex the entire crowd threw their hands up and Sirius flung himself headlong into the crowd, where he was quickly carried away over the sea of Wizards hands. Deciding that as the stunt had proved successful for Sirius, Remus and James clambered up the same pole and threw themselves to the crowds mercy, riding the waves of hands with a rush of sudden enthusiasm. When Peter was suddenly propelled past the pair they exchanged thoughtful glances and shrugged.

Remus found himself grinning as loud whoops lit the crowds of students and beamed up at the platform cieling. 

Perhaps the holidays wouldn't be so bad after all.

~**********~

An: Well thats it, the end. -sniffs- I'm really gonna miss this ficcy. And as promised, the songlist of all the songs follows this short AN ^_^;; 

Moments from Playing with the Boys (Broadway Style)

Daydream Believer - The Monkees - Sirius, Chapter Two.  
So Happy Together - The Turtles - Sirius, Chapter Two.  
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis - Sirius, Chapter Three.  
One Way or Another - Blondie - Sirius, - Chapter Three.  
Fly Me To The Moon - Frank Sinatra - James and Peter, Chapter Five.  
The Boys are Back in Town - Bad Company - Remus, Sirius and Peter, Chapter Nine.  
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes - Peter, Chapter Ten.  
We Will Rock You - Queen - Remus, Sirius, James and Peter, Chapter Eleven  
We are the Champions - Queen - Remus, Sirius, James and Peter, Chapter Eleven.  
Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding - Remus, Sirius and James, Chapter Twelve.   
Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra - Remus, Sirius and James, Chapter Twelve.  
Accoustic Number 3 - Goo Goo Dolls - Remus, Chapter Thirteen.  
Why Georgia - John Mayer - Remus, Chapter Thirteen.  
Bad Day - Fuel - Remus, Chapter Thirteen.  
Knock Three Times - Tony Orlando and Dawn - Remus, Chapter Thirteen.   
A Whole New World - The Aladdin Soundtrack - Remus, Chapter Fifteen  
English Opening Song of Yu Yu Hakusho - Remus, Chapter Fifteen  
I Will Survive - Donna Summer - Remus and Sirius, Chapter Sixteen  
Flake - Jack Johnson - Remus, Chapter Sixteen.  
Build me up Buttercup - - Remus, Chapter Sixteen.  
It's My Life - Bon Jovi - Remus, Chapter Sixteen.  
Stand By Me - Ben E King - Remus, Chapter Sixteen.  
I Love Rock'n'Roll - - Remus, Chapter Nineteen  
Drops of Jupiter - Train - Contestant #1, Chapter Twenty  
Fallin' - Alicia Keyes - Contestant #2, Chapter Twenty.  
Everywhere you go - Taxiride - Daniel Adams, Chapter Twenty.  
A Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World - Remus Lupin, Chapter Twenty.  
Can't Help Myself (Sugarpie, Honeybunch) - Four Tops - Sirius Black, Chapter Twenty Three.  
Mack the Knife - Frank Sinatra - Sirius Black - Chapter Twenty Three.  
I'm not sick but I'm not well - Lit - Daniel Adams - Chapter Twenty Four.  
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel - Remus, Sirius and Daniel Adams - Chapter Twenty Five.  
Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles - Remus - Chapter Twenty Six.  
The boy from New York city - Darts - Remus, Sirius and Lily. - Chapter Twenty Nine.  
Aint no mountain high enough - Marvin Gaye - Remus, Sirius and Lily - Chapter Twenty Nine.  
I've had the Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing- Remus, Sirius and Lily - Chapter Twenty Nine.  
Don't Mess Around with Jim - Jim Croce - Professor Moore, Chapter Thirty  
All by Myself - Celine Dion - Professor Moore, Chapter Thirty  
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor - Remus, Sirius, Peter and James, Chapter Thirty.  
Stay - Maurice Williams - Remus and Sirius, Chapter Thirty Four.  
Hey Baby - Bruce Channel - Remus and Sirius, Chapter Thirty Four.  
Love is Strange - Mickey and Sylvia - Remus and Sirius, Chapter Thirty Four.  
Slice of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn and The Herbs - Remus, Sirius, James and Peter, Chapter Thirty Four.  
Once in a Lifetime - Johnny Rzeznik - Remus, Chapter Thirty Five.  
Love Man - Otis Redding - Remus and Sirius, Chapter Thirty Six Part Two (37)  
Everyday - Buddy Holly - Remus, Chapter Thirty Seven.  
St Patricks Day - John Mayer - Remus, Chapter Thirty Seven.  
Big Machine - The Goo Goo Dolls - Remus, Chapter Thirty Seven.  
Playing With The Boys - Kenny Loggins - Remus, Chapter Fourty. - The title song ^__^;

Thankyou all for the reviews and the criticism, and be sure to look out for the second installment in the story, Love and Direspect.


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